I have been told about a complaint regarding my performance. My NUM said it would be dealt with via a Ministry of Health policy called managing complaints on clinicians. The complaint seems trivial and hardly warranting a formal process. Does this sound right?

Your NUM is probably referring to PD2018_032 (Managing Complaints and Concerns about Clinicians) which was updated and reissued late last year. Section 1.2 states that less serious matters such as low, level conduct, behaviour, grievance or performance issues should not be managed under this policy. This includes complaints or concerns where the identified risks do not require administrative action to manage patient or staff safety, no external notifications are required and/or there is unlikely to be disciplinary action.

It is expected that your manager or supervisor would usually manage these in line with local performance, conduct or 
grievance management arrangements, or other local alternative dispute resolution arrangements, as applicable.