NHS INTERVIEW GUIDE

NHS Consultant Interview Questions: The AAC, Common Questions and How to Prepare

How the consultant Advisory Appointments Committee usually works, the questions panels ask, the presentation, a worked STAR example, mistakes and a preparation plan.

Last updated 24 October 2026 · Created by a practising NHS doctor · Independent of the NHS

Quick answer

What questions are asked at an NHS consultant interview?

NHS consultant interviews usually cover your vision for the service, leadership, clinical governance and patient safety, job planning, a difficult colleague, finance, teaching, research and NHS priorities. Most substantive posts are decided by an Advisory Appointments Committee with a lay chair, trust leaders, a specialty consultant and an external royal college assessor. Many trusts also ask for a short presentation on developing the service.

Key takeaways

Most substantive posts use an Advisory Appointments Committee.
Use pre-interview visits to shape your vision.
Expect leadership, governance, finance and job planning questions.
Give STAR examples with measurable, lasting results.
Keep the presentation realistic, specific and to time.

NHS consultant interviews usually ask about your vision for the service, leadership, clinical governance and patient safety, job planning, handling a difficult colleague, finance and efficiency, teaching, research and current NHS priorities. Most substantive posts are decided by an Advisory Appointments Committee (AAC), a formal panel that often includes a lay chair, senior trust leaders, a consultant from the specialty and an external royal college assessor. Many trusts also ask for a short presentation.

This guide explains the AAC, pre-interview visits, the questions to expect, a worked STAR answer, common mistakes and a preparation plan, with notes on psychiatry, emergency medicine and gastroenterology. The example questions are original practice themes, not real interview questions.

In this guide

What is an Advisory Appointments Committee (AAC) for a consultant post?
Should you do pre-interview visits for a consultant job?
What questions are asked at an NHS consultant interview?
What do consultant interview panels look for?
What is the consultant interview presentation?
How do you answer consultant interview questions using STAR?
What questions are asked in psychiatry, emergency medicine and gastroenterology consultant interviews?
What are the most common mistakes at consultant interviews?
How should you prepare for an NHS consultant interview?

What is an Advisory Appointments Committee (AAC) for a consultant post?

An AAC is the formal interview panel used to appoint substantive NHS consultants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For many NHS trusts and health boards it is a statutory requirement, while foundation trusts generally follow it as good practice. Scotland uses its own external adviser system, so check local arrangements.

Panel make-up varies, but a core panel often includes:

A lay chair: often a non-executive director or the trust chair.
The chief executive or a senior manager nominee.
The medical director or a medically qualified deputy.
A consultant from the specialty, often the clinical director or clinical lead.
A royal college assessor from outside the trust, who checks that candidates meet the professional standard.
A university representative for posts with academic sessions.

Should you do pre-interview visits for a consultant job?

Yes, most candidates find informal visits very useful, and some panel members expect them. Treat every conversation as professional.

Ask the clinical director, current consultants, nurses, managers and trainees what is working, what is not, and what the trust's priorities are. Read the job description, the latest regulator inspection report, the trust's annual plan and board papers. What you learn should shape your vision answer and your presentation.

What questions are asked at an NHS consultant interview?

Expect fewer clinical knowledge questions than at registrar level and more about leading a service, people, safety, money and strategy. Practise these out loud:

Vision: Where do you see this service in five years, and what would you change first?
Motivation: Why this post, and why this trust rather than another?
Leadership: Tell us about a time you led change that met resistance.
Governance: Describe a serious incident or complaint you were involved in and what changed as a result.
Quality improvement: Talk us through an audit or QI project that closed the loop.
Job planning: How would you balance direct clinical care with supporting activities in your job plan?
Difficult colleague: A consultant colleague's behaviour is worrying the team. What do you do?
Performance concerns: How would you handle a trainee or colleague whose practice may be unsafe?
Finance: Your service is over budget and waiting lists are growing. How do you respond?
Teaching: How would you support and supervise trainees and the wider team?
Research: How would you encourage research or evidence-based practice in this department?
NHS priorities: Which current national priorities matter most for this specialty?

What do consultant interview panels look for?

Panels want a safe, credible senior colleague who will improve the service and work well with others.

Clinical credibility and readiness for independent practice.
A realistic vision linked to this trust's needs, not a generic plan.
Leadership and teamworking, including with nursing and managerial colleagues.
Ownership of safety and governance, with learning from incidents.
Awareness of resources, productivity and value for money.
Commitment to education and, where relevant, research.
Probity, insight and professional behaviour in line with GMC guidance.

What is the consultant interview presentation?

Many trusts ask for a short presentation on a set topic, often developing the service or your first year in post. Check the invitation for the time limit and keep strictly to it.

Use a simple structure: the current position, the problem, two or three realistic proposals, how you would measure success, and what you need from the trust. Show you listened during your visits and prepare for challenging questions afterwards.

How do you answer consultant interview questions using STAR?

Use STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) but put most of your time into actions and results, and add what you learned and would do next. At consultant level, results should be measurable and sustained, not one-off.

Worked STAR example: "Tell us about a time you led change that met resistance"

Situation: As a senior registrar, I noticed that discharge summaries on our unit were often delayed, and GPs were raising concerns about missing medication changes.

Task: My supervising consultant asked me to lead an improvement project, though some colleagues felt the delay was a staffing problem we could not solve.

Action: I audited a sample of discharges to measure the delay, then met nurses, pharmacists, junior doctors and the ward manager to understand the barriers. We agreed a shared template and a daily point for completing summaries. I listened to the doubters, adjusted the process after their feedback, and reported progress at the governance meeting.

Result: On re-audit, summaries were completed sooner and complaints from GPs fell. The approach was adopted by a neighbouring ward. I learned that early involvement of sceptics makes change last, and as a consultant I would build in a planned re-audit from the start.

What questions are asked in psychiatry, emergency medicine and gastroenterology consultant interviews?

The core themes are the same in every specialty, but panels often add questions linked to the specialty's own pressures. These are typical practice areas:

Psychiatry: acting as responsible clinician, balancing risk with recovery, working with community teams, mental health law principles (which differ across UK nations), bed pressures and out of area placements, and supporting staff after a serious incident.
Emergency medicine: crowding and flow, working with inpatient specialties, leading the department on a difficult shift, retention and wellbeing of staff, and safety under pressure.
Gastroenterology: endoscopy capacity and waiting lists, quality and safety standards for endoscopy, managing urgent referrals, multidisciplinary working with surgeons, radiologists and specialist nurses, and service models for chronic conditions.

What are the most common mistakes at consultant interviews?

Most weak performances come from answering like a registrar rather than a future leader.

Generic vision: a plan that could apply to any trust.
Criticising the current team or promising to fix everything at once.
Ignoring money and capacity when proposing new services.
No measurable results in leadership or QI examples.
Overrunning the presentation or reading from slides.
Talking only to the clinicians on the panel and forgetting the lay chair and managers.
Weak answers on colleague concerns, such as ignoring a problem or escalating with no attempt at fair, supportive handling.

How should you prepare for an NHS consultant interview?

Start as soon as you are shortlisted and follow a simple plan.

Step 1: Study the job description, job plan, person specification and the trust's strategy and inspection reports.
Step 2: Book pre-interview visits and take notes on the service's priorities.
Step 3: Draft a one-page vision for the service and test it with a trusted consultant.
Step 4: Prepare eight to ten STAR examples covering leadership, governance, QI, teaching, conflict and a mistake.
Step 5: Read current national and specialty priorities from the royal college and NHS bodies.
Step 6: Build and rehearse the presentation to time, then practise questions on it.
Step 7: Arrange mock panels with consultants, your educational supervisor, the BMA or royal college events where available.
Step 8: Practise with written question banks. Healthcare Interview Prep is one self-study option, offering original practice questions with model answers for 471 NHS roles; it is not coaching and does not run mock interviews.

Frequently asked questions

Who sits on an NHS consultant interview panel?

A consultant Advisory Appointments Committee often includes a lay chair, the chief executive or a senior manager, the medical director or a deputy, a consultant from the specialty and an external royal college assessor. Posts with academic sessions usually add a university representative. Exact membership varies between trusts and between UK nations, and Scotland uses a different external adviser system, so check the details sent with your interview invitation.

How long is an NHS consultant interview?

There is no single standard length. Many consultant interviews last somewhere between half an hour and an hour, often with a short presentation followed by questions from each panel member. Some trusts add a separate stakeholder or focus group session earlier in the day. Your interview letter should explain the format and timings, and you can ask medical staffing if anything is unclear.

Are pre-interview visits compulsory for consultant jobs?

They are not usually compulsory, but many candidates arrange them and some panel members value them. Visits help you understand the service, its problems and the trust's priorities, which strengthens your vision answer and presentation. Treat them as professional conversations, be respectful of people's time, and never use them to lobby. If you cannot visit in person, a phone or video conversation can still help.

How do I answer 'What is your vision for this service?'

Base your answer on what you learned from the job description, trust documents and pre-interview visits. Name two or three realistic priorities, explain why they matter to patients, describe how you would work with the team to deliver them, and say how you would measure success. Acknowledge constraints such as budget and staffing. Avoid generic plans or criticising the existing team, and keep the first year achievable.

How should I answer a question about a difficult consultant colleague?

Show that you put patient safety first while treating the colleague fairly. Explain that you would gather facts, speak to the colleague privately and supportively, and look for causes such as stress or health. If concerns continue or patients are at risk, escalate to the clinical director or medical director in line with trust policy and GMC guidance, keep clear records, and support the team throughout.

Practice question banks for related NHS roles

Practise with NHS interview questions for your role

Each NHS role on this site has 40 original practice questions with full model answers. The first 8 are free to read, and the rest of a role's bank costs £4.99 with 12 months' access and no subscription.

More NHS interview guides

Healthcare Interview Prep is an independent NHS interview preparation website. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the NHS. Example questions and answers are original practice material, not official or leaked interview questions.

Healthcare Interview Prep: practice questions and model answers for 471 NHS roles across 11 sectors, created by a practising NHS doctor.