NHS Interview Questions - tips to ace your interview
Congratulations on getting an interview call with the NHS! Your next concern is the NHS interview question. It is true that the NHS depends on a variety of staff to run efficiently. There are many different job roles, from front-line positions in nursing, midwifery, and dentistry, to non-clinical support positions in administration, IT, and finance. Stop growing anxious over how to answer those tough NHS interview questions to sway the consultants on your panel in your favor. This blog is especially to give you some pointers and techniques for getting out of the hot seat with a job.
The list below includes ten common NHS interview questions, including those about the service in general as well as competency and situational questions applicable to most roles.
Top 9 NHS interview questions with answers
What are the core values of the NHS and which is most important to you? Tell an instance where you have demonstrated one of them at your workplace.
A question relating to the NHS values is almost guaranteed in your interview. Make sure you learn the values.
Here’s an answer to help you.
The six NHS values are, working together for patients, respect and dignity, commitment to quality of care, compassion, improving lives, and everyone counts.
They are all important to each other and unless they are integrated into all NHS staff’s daily working routines, a first-class service cannot be provided. Prove your point from your personal experience.
Explain a situation where you were committed to providing quality service to your patients.
If you had undertaken any performance reviews with the manager or a training course, explain it here.
The point is to convince the interviewer about the 21st-century skills that you have adapted during the course to render quality care and service to your customers or patients.
What are the most important qualities required to work in the NHS?
In addition to the six core values, there are several other qualities needed to work effectively in all NHS band job roles.
Make sure you learn these important qualities before you attend your NHS job interview.
Highlight that one of the most important qualities needed to work in the NHS is the ability to work with other people to achieve outstanding patient care.
Within the NHS organization, one has to collaborate with people within your direct team, with people from other healthcare departments, and with patients, their families, and their carers to ensure they receive the right treatment and care.
Some other qualities include being caring and in line with the NHS policies and procedures and communicating effectively in a way that is representative of the six NHS values. This entails listening to patients and conversing with them in a manner appropriate to their needs.
Explain a situation where you have challenged a situation where someone was providing substandard service or care.
The NHS is constantly striving to provide patients with first-class treatment and care.
If you ever have seen anything other than high-quality treatment and care being provided, you must always challenge it professionally.
If you have overheard from your previous employer how they had been rude to customers via telephone, explain your embarrassment.
The manager’s frustration could have been a result of repeated phone calls, but explain how he ought not to have done it. Go ahead to say that he should be provided some sort of training or support to help him deal with the customers.
What defines a good NHS staff?
As previously mentioned, the NHS bases hiring decisions on values. It seeks employees who share its values and uphold its ethical and professional standards. Try to answer this keeping in mind the NHS’s six core values.
Integrity and accountability – To protect patient privacy, and responsibility and strive for continuous improvement.
Flexibility and time management – To meet constantly changing demands and respond skillfully in difficult circumstances.
Kindness, patience, and compassion – In order to give patients the best care possible
collaboration and communication to participate in a healthcare network that consists of a number of departments and outside organisations.
What are respect and dignity?
You must not only understand what respect and dignity are but also demonstrate them in your daily work and routines. Respect and dignity apply to everyone, including coworkers, patients, and external stakeholders or contractors.
They are one of the six NHS core values. It must be demonstrated in everything you do within your work. Highlight it here.
How do you deal with a confrontational or angry patient?
Explain how you would be careful with your eye contact and be clear in explaining the assessment or medical care process they were going to undergo. Ensure that you would acknowledge their grievances first and would maintain eye contact while discussing their issues.
Take me through a situation where your communication skills made a positive difference to someone.
Give a specific example where you managed to persuade someone to take a course of action that improved a situation.
Had there been an instance when an otherwise upbeat colleague of yours had been down for a short spell?
If you had communicated in private with the colleague, trying to empathise with him with your communication, mention it here.
What are the challenges facing NHS?
This is again a tough NHS interview question to answer, especially if you are joining from an external position, and it’s your first time working in this great healthcare organisation.
This is perhaps the most compelling question you will be ever asked. The interviewer would like to know the realities and challenges of the role you are applying for, the future of public health, and how external factors impact the organization’s ability to deliver.
Draw references from the COVID-19 pandemic. How the NHS is under enormous pressure which is likely to continue. The hospital admissions, recurring vaccinations, and an increase in patients with COVID can be drawn as references here.
Do not forget to explain the mounting waiting list of non-pandemic operations. Due to the pandemic so many routine procedures and operations have been put back, which brought the whole UK healthcare industry to static.
You could also talk about the other challenges the NHS faces including funding, staff shortages, pay rates, working conditions, and resource allocation.
Demonstrating that you understand how external factors continue to present new challenges demonstrates that you value the service as a whole and are not solely concerned with your role within it.
How would you handle someone making transphobic remarks?
The best answer for this is to place someone in the shoes of a transphobic. “Would I be at ease if someone asked me these questions?”
Reel your answer this way.
Consider putting yourself in the shoes of the person being questioned. What surgeries they have or have not had, or what their genitals look like, for example, can be very personal. How would you react if someone asked you to discuss your genitals or share information about personal and intimate surgeries you’ve had? Even if you are comfortable sharing that information, not everyone will share your sentiments.
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