Consultant interview
Walk into your Consultant interview already knowing how you will answer
Rehearse for your Consultant interview against an AI interviewer who challenges your answers. Get feedback on any session you finish, in seconds.
What is the Consultant interview, and how do you practise for it?
The final hurdle before becoming a consultant: a single Advisory Appointments Committee panel interview. For NHS trusts in England the NHS (Appointment of Consultants) Regulations 1996 set the core members — a lay chair, an external assessor nominated by the Royal College, the chief executive (or another board-level executive), the medical director and a consultant from the trust, with a member appointed after consultation with the relevant university for posts with teaching or research commitments — and trusts may add members while keeping the panel small. NHS foundation trusts are not covered by the Regulations and are recommended to follow them; Wales and Northern Ireland have equivalent regulations, and Scotland has used a different process since 2009, with no AAC. No interview length is set nationally: each trust decides its own procedure, and some add other selection methods agreed in advance, such as a presentation, which is not simulated here. Where a trust sets a presentation it can be a timed, scored station in its own right (one trust's published procedure: the title on the day, 20 minutes to prepare, up to 10 minutes presenting and 5 minutes of questions). To be appointed by an NHS trust in England a consultant must be on the GMC Specialist Register before taking up the post; a specialty trainee may apply and be interviewed if their expected CCT date is no more than six months after the interview, and doctors also qualify through the Portfolio Pathway (formerly CESR). NHS foundation trusts are not bound by the registration rule, though NHS Employers calls appointing registered doctors best practice. The guidance expects applicants to be offered preliminary visits to the department and to meet the medical director and chief executive, and says these visits form no part of the selection process. The stations below are the themes that panel commonly covers — NHS management, clinical governance, leadership, vision and service development — practised one at a time, not a circuit you move around. Anchored to the candidate's target hospital and specialty. MedMock lets you practise it out loud against an AI interview panel, with examiner-style feedback on any station you finish.
Last updated 29 October 2026
Consultant interview practice, on demand
MedMock gives you an AI interviewer who challenges your answers, available 24/7. Pick a station, have a spoken conversation, and ask for examiner-style feedback when you finish, scored against what genuinely matters in the Consultant interview.
How it works
Choose a station
Choose the kind of question or scenario you want to rehearse — ethics, motivation, a role-play, and more.
Have the conversation
Speak naturally, out loud. The AI interviewer listens and asks the demanding follow-ups, just as a real interviewer would.
Get instant feedback
The moment you finish, you get specific, examiner-style feedback and a score — what you did well, what cost you marks, and precisely what to fix before the next attempt.
Practise every scenario
MedMock covers the stations you will face in the Consultant interview. Rehearse each one until it feels routine.
Full Panel Interview
A 40-minute practice run of a whole panel interview (real lengths vary by trust). The core members of an English NHS trust's panel take turns — the lay chair, a Royal College assessor, the medical director, the chief executive (or another board-level executive) and a consultant colleague — joined by a clinical director and an HR representative, members a trust may add — the guidance asks trusts to keep panels to a minimum and provides for personnel as advice available to the panel rather than a questioning member, so an HR questioner is a local addition. Each asks roughly two questions with follow-ups, and the chair closes with your questions to the panel.
Clinical Scenario
Acute clinical case management at consultant level — buck-stops-here decisions, ownership, depth of reasoning.
NHS Management & Governance
Serious untoward incidents, Duty of Candour, CQC, complaints, finance, regulatory compliance.
Difficult Colleague & MDT
Underperforming or impaired senior colleague, MDT conflict, GMC professional standards, team leadership.
Vision & Service Development
Strategic plan and first-six-months priorities for the trust's department; service redesign anchored to the candidate's target hospital.
Why You, Why Here?
Motivation for consultant role at this specific trust, portfolio highlights, leadership achievements, weaknesses, fit with the trust's strategic direction.
Research, Audit & Teaching
Academic profile — completed audit cycles, research methodology and publications, teaching delivery and measurable impact, peer review, and CPD plan.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
EDI at the patient interface, workforce, and own practice — health inequalities, IMG inclusion, accessible communication, implicit bias, lived examples of action.
Sample Consultant interview questions
Two questions from the topics that come up most in MedMock's Consultant interview bank.
“Your unit is moving its knee replacements towards same-day and next-day discharge. A colleague still routinely places a femoral nerve block for these. You have been asked to advise on the block choice for the pathway. What is your thinking?”
“Why do you want this consultant post, and what would you bring to our allergy service?”
Example scenarios
A sample of the Consultant interview scenarios you can practise, each as a spoken conversation.
“One of your registrars has made a prescribing error resulting in a severe patient outcome. Talk me through your Duty of Candour and the Datix investigation process.”
“You notice a senior Consultant colleague who appears to be making increasing operative errors and smells faintly of alcohol in the morning. How do you approach this?”
“Tell us about the priorities you would set for our trust's [specialty] department in your first six months as a consultant here.”
“Walk me through your strongest completed audit. What was the standard, what change did you implement, and what did the re-audit show?”
“Tell me about a time you identified a barrier to equitable care for a patient group in your service. What did you do about it, and what changed?”
Consultant interview recruitment dates 2026–27
Consultant interviews (Advisory Appointments Committees) are arranged by each NHS employer when a post is advertised, so there are no national dates. The interview date is given in the job advert or the invitation to interview. Checked against NHS Employers on 24 September 2026.
Recruitment dates change. MedMock is not affiliated with NHS Employers; confirm every date, application window and venue on the official site before you apply. NHS Employers
Consultant interview practice — your questions answered
How does the feedback work?
When you finish a station you can have it marked, and the scorecard comes back in seconds — what you did well, what cost you marks, and exactly what to work on next. Scorecards, mark schemes and model answers are included at no extra credit cost.
Can I practise specific Consultant interview stations?
Yes. You can pick any of the 8 stations to drill a weak area, or run a mixed set to simulate the real interview.
How much does it cost?
You can start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits, which is 30 minutes of speaking practice, with no subscription. After that, or at any time, you can choose a monthly plan, which includes a monthly credit allowance. Current prices are on the pricing page.
Formats change from year to year: check the official candidate guidance or applicant handbook from the body that runs your exam or interview (the Royal Colleges, NHS England, the GMC and others) for your sitting.
Ready for your Consultant interview?
Rehearse real Consultant interview scenarios out loud and get instant, examiner-style feedback.
- Instant, personalised feedback
- Real voice-to-voice conversation
- Repeatable attempts, a different run every time
Guides to help you prepare
Be ready for your Consultant interview before you walk in
Start with the £5 taster, a one-off payment for 30 credits: practise Consultant interview scenarios out loud and get any of them marked when you are ready.
Practise your Consultant interview