# Practising for Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery (ST3) with MedMock

Canonical page: https://medmock.com/exams/trauma-and-orthopaedic-surgery-st3

## What is the Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery ST3 interview, and how do you practise for it?

Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery ST3 national recruitment interview, run online by NHS England North East and Yorkshire: four 10-minute stations — Commitment to Specialty, Clinical, Prioritisation and Communication. Before each station there are 3 minutes of reading time (2026 round) when a document is shared, and two interviewers score each station independently. The panel does not have access to your portfolio. Here one examiner voice speaks for the panel, and the Communication role-player is simulated by voice. MedMock lets you practise it out loud against an AI interview panel, with examiner-style feedback on any station you finish.

## About Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery (ST3) recruitment (official sources, checked 2026-10-13)

- 2025 recruitment round, NHS England figures for Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery ST3: 684 applications for 150 posts, a competition ratio of 4.56.
- For 2027 entry, the national recruitment office for ST3 Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery is NHS England - North East and Yorkshire, recruiting to posts across England and Scotland.
- For 2027 entry, applications open at 10am on 19 November 2026 and close at 4pm on 10 December 2026, and all interviews take place online.
- For 2027 entry, the T&O self-assessment no longer uses an N number, and scores do not need weighting against an N number calculation.
- In the 2027 T&O self-assessment, 18 or more wholly completed operations for fracture of neck of femur (done STS or STU, in a consultant-validated logbook) score 4 points.
- The Yorkshire and the Humber T&O training programme is expected to last six years, subject to satisfactory progression.
- In the previous recruitment round, the T&O interview had four 10-minute stations: Commitment to Specialty, Clinical Judgement, Prioritisation and Communication, each assessed independently by two interviewers.
- In the previous recruitment round, applicants had to complete all parts of MRCS by the date offers were released, and were shortlisted for interview on their validated self-assessment score.

Sources: https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/competition-ratios/2025-competition-ratios https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/recruitment/national_recruitment/national_trauma__orthopaedic_surgery_st3_recruitment/ https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2027_to_scoring_system.pdf https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/recruitment/medical-recruitment-school-surgery/trauma-orthopaedic-surgery-st3 https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/applicant_handbook_st3_trauma_and_orthopaedics_0.pdf

## What happens in the real Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery (ST3) (checked against the official source on 2026-09-27)

The Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery ST3 national recruitment interview is run by NHS England North East and Yorkshire. In the 2026 round it was an online interview on Qpercom VIDs, scheduled for 24 to 27 March 2026, lasting 60 minutes over four 10-minute stations: Commitment to Specialty, Clinical Judgement, Prioritisation and Communication. Before each station there are 3 minutes of reading time when a document is shared with you. At every station two interviewers score you independently in each of that station's domains, and your station scores are combined with your verified self-assessment score.

- **Commitment to Specialty** (10 minutes): You are interviewed about elements of your career and experience to date. The panel members do not have access to your portfolio.
- **Clinical Judgement** (10 minutes): A station based on a clinical scenario.
- **Prioritisation** (10 minutes): A prioritisation exercise.
- **Communication** (10 minutes): A station based on a scenario involving communication with a patient.

Marking: Two interviewers score you independently in each of the station's domains, using a structured scoring system. Commitment to Specialty is scored on career motivation, learning and development; leadership and team involvement; organisation and planning; communication (information giving); and academic. Clinical Judgement is scored on technical knowledge; problem solving and decision making; situational awareness; communication (information gathering); and communication (information giving). Prioritisation is scored on organisation and planning; communication (information gathering); communication (information giving); judgement under pressure; and situational awareness. Communication is scored on technical knowledge; situational awareness; judgement under pressure; communication (information gathering); and communication (information giving). Your station scores and your verified, weighted self-assessment score are combined into an overall interview score, and you are ranked on that overall score and your individual station scores.

Passing: To be appointable in the 2026 round you needed a minimum overall score of 146 out of 232 (station scores plus the verified, weighted self-assessment score). NHS England may also set a minimum required score in any individual domain; if your score in that domain does not meet it, you are ranked 0.

Sources: https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/applicant_handbook_st3_trauma_and_orthopaedics_august_2026_version_2.pdf https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/recruitment/national_recruitment/national_trauma__orthopaedic_surgery_st3_recruitment https://www.yorksandhumberdeanery.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2025_to_applicant_handbook.pdf
Full format page: https://medmock.com/exams/trauma-and-orthopaedic-surgery-st3/format

Recruitment dates: Applications 19 November 2026 to 10 December 2026 (national Round 2); Interviews within the national Round 2 window, 11 January 2027 to 9 April 2027 (source: NHS England Medical Specialty Recruitment, checked 2026-09-24).
All Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery (ST3) dates: https://medmock.com/exams/trauma-and-orthopaedic-surgery-st3#dates

## Stations you can practise

- **Commitment to Specialty** — Questions on elements of your career and experience to date, after 3 minutes' reading. The panel does not have your portfolio, so you give your evidence aloud.
- **Clinical** — A clinical scenario, read during 3 minutes of reading time and then discussed with the panel: assessment, investigation and management of a trauma or orthopaedic problem.
- **Prioritisation** — A prioritisation exercise, such as a list of patients for a trauma meeting or an emergency theatre, read during 3 minutes of reading time. You rank it and justify your decisions to the panel.
- **Communication** — A scenario involving communication with a patient, read during 3 minutes of reading time and then played out with a role-player — for example consent or explaining a cancelled operation. There is no practical task.

## Sample Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery (ST3) questions

- *Communication:* A 70-year-old male patient is medically fit and well but has severe, debilitating knee osteoarthritis. He is refusing surgery because his friend had a bad outcome. Please explore his concerns and discuss the risks and benefits.
- *Communication:* A 41-year-old man has sustained an open tibial fracture. You plan to take him to theatre for debridement and application of an external fixator. Please explain the procedure and obtain his consent.

## Example scenarios

- *Communication:* Explain to a patient that their total hip replacement surgery has been cancelled due to an emergency trauma admission, managing their anger and frustration.
- *Prioritisation:* You are the on-call orthopaedic registrar with one emergency theatre. Rank a pulseless supracondylar fracture, an open tibial fracture and a fragility hip fracture, and justify the order.
- *Clinical:* A 25-year-old man has a suspected scaphoid fracture but normal initial X-rays. Discuss your assessment, imaging strategy and management plan.
- *Commitment to Specialty:* Tell us about your career to date and what has confirmed that trauma and orthopaedic surgery is the right specialty for you.

## How a practice session works

1. **Choose a station** — Choose the kind of question or scenario you want to rehearse — ethics, motivation, a role-play, and more.
2. **Have the conversation** — Speak naturally, out loud. The AI interviewer listens and asks the demanding follow-ups, just as a real interviewer would.
3. **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.

## Price

Start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits (30 minutes of speaking practice), not a subscription. After that, or instead, £69 per month for 350 credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Cancel at any time. Full details: https://medmock.com/pricing

## Frequently asked questions

### 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 Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery ST3 stations?

Yes. You can pick any of the 4 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.

## About MedMock

MedMock is a web app for practising the spoken parts of UK medical and dental exams and interviews out loud. The candidate talks; an AI patient, examiner or interview panel answers in real time by voice; and when the station ends MedMock marks the performance against that exam's assessment domains and shows the model answer.

It covers 104 spoken exams and interviews — OSCEs, vivas, structured oral exams, simulated consultations, and specialty-training and consultant interviews. It does not cover written or multiple-choice papers, and it is not a question bank.

It was founded by Mr Sam Nahas, MBBS BSc MEd FRCS (Tr & Orth), a practising consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the UK, with co-founder and CTO Arjan Jandu. It is operated by VirtualPatients Ltd (company no. 16303492).

Pricing: a one-off £5 taster of 30 credits to try it (not a subscription, one per account), and a monthly subscription from £20 to £129 depending on the exam (student exams cost least, fellowship exit exams and consultant interviews most), or £199 to £275 for the Intensive plans, which carry more credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time.

It runs in a web browser on a laptop or phone; spoken practice needs a microphone. There is no public demo: practice needs an account with credits, usually from the taster or a monthly plan.

MedMock is for adults aged 18 or over. Sign-up asks every new account to confirm it.

MedMock is a revision tool. The patients, examiners and cases are fictional and AI-generated; it is not clinical guidance and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any Royal College, the GMC, the GDC or any examining body.

Start with the £5 taster: https://medmock.com/auth/signup