CT1 Recruitment 2016

Round 1 Applicants Guide

Version control
Version

Publication date

Amendments

1.0

12 October 2015

(original)

1.1

14 October 2015

(East Midlands interview dates have been added)

1.2

2 November 2015

(Yorkshire & the Humber interview dates have been

changed)

Table of contents
1

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1

Timeline ................................................................................................................................ 1

Planning your application ...................................................................................................... 2

3.1

Eligibility criteria................................................................................................................................... 2

3.2

Specialty and region ............................................................................................................................. 2

Applying ................................................................................................................................ 3
4.1

The application form ............................................................................................................................ 3

4.2

Submitting your application ................................................................................................................. 4

After submission.................................................................................................................... 4
5.1

Long-listing ........................................................................................................................................... 4

5.2

Short-listing .......................................................................................................................................... 4

5.3

Invitation to interview.......................................................................................................................... 5

5.4

Programme preferences ...................................................................................................................... 5

Interview ............................................................................................................................... 6
6.1

Interview documentation .................................................................................................................... 6

6.2

Interview structure & format ............................................................................................................... 6

6.3

Interview content ................................................................................................................................. 7

6.4

Scoring & assessment .......................................................................................................................... 7

Offers .................................................................................................................................... 9
7.1

Making offers ....................................................................................................................................... 9

7.2

Responding to offers ............................................................................................................................ 9

7.3

Employment and references .............................................................................................................. 10

Clearing ............................................................................................................................... 10

Future recruitment .............................................................................................................. 10

9.1

Round 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 10

9.2

2017 recruitment ............................................................................................................................... 11

10

Finally .............................................................................................................................. 11

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1 Introduction
Welcome to the 2016 CT1 Recruitment applicants guide!
This document is designed to give an overview of the process by which candidates apply to CT1-level training
in the programmes of acute care common stem: acute medicine (ACCS-AM) and core medical training (CMT)
in 2016 round 1; additional guidance about round 2 will be published nearer the time (section 9.1).
More detailed information about the whole process can be found on the CT1 Recruitment website:
www.ct1recruitment.org.uk.
We have attempted to keep this guide as free from jargon and un-expanded acronyms as is possible, but in
some instances this cannot be avoided. Please refer to the glossary page of the website:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/help/glossary

2 Timeline
The table below gives the key dates in round 1 of 2016 CT1 Recruitment:
Provisional post
numbers published
6 Nov 2015

Applications Open
11 Nov 2015

Applications Close
3 Dec 2015

Interviews Held
18 Jan - 9 March 2016

First offers deadline

10 March 2016

Holding deadline
17 March 2016

National clearing
from 28 March 2016

Post start date

3 Aug 2016

Upgrade deadline
24 March 2016

Long-listing will be completed by 4 January 2016 and short-listing completed by 7 January 2016.
Region

Interview date(s)

HE East Midlands
HE East of England
HE Kent, Surrey & Sussex
HE North East
HE North West
HE South West

27 & 28 January 2016

20, 21 & 22 January 2016
24 & 25 February 2016
2 & 3 February
25, 26, 27, 28 & 29 January
Plymouth - 9 & 11 February 2016
Bristol - 2, 3, & 4 March 2016
4 & 5 February 2016
23, 25 & 26 February 2016
14, 15 & 29 January and 25 February 2016
20, 21 & 22 January 2016
25, 26, 27, 28 & 29 January
26 January and 9 & 11 February 2016
Glasgow 19, 20, & 21 January
Edinburgh 25, 26 & 27 January
18 & 19 January

HE Thames Valley
HE Wessex
HE West Midlands
HE Yorkshire and the Humber
London Recruitment
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales

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3 Planning your application

While you will doubtless be keen to begin applying as soon as you can, there are some steps to consider
before you start.

3.1 Eligibility criteria

Prior to applying to a CT1 post it is important that you view the entry criteria. The 2016 person specifications
for both the ACCS-AM and CMT programmes have been published to the NHS medical specialty training
website; please note that whilst there are two separate specifications the content is virtually the same:
http://specialtytraining.hee.nhs.uk/specialty-recruitment/person-specifications-2013/
We have published to the website a section dedicated to each area of the criteria, as well as giving guidance
on how to demonstrate you meet each of them: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/am-ieligible
Whilst it is necessary to meet all criteria, those that most commonly affect candidates are: eligibility to work
in the UK, foundation competence and experience requirements. Below is an overview of each one:
Eligibility to work in the UK

If you require a work permit and your employment is subject to restrictions, you may not be eligible to apply
in round 1. Applicants who are subject to the resident labour market test (RLMT) can only be considered
eligible in round 2 and so those in this position should delay their application until then.
If you are unsure about your status, consult the Governments website for more information:
https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration
Foundation competence

If you are not currently in a UK-affiliated foundation training programme, you will need to submit
documentation with your application demonstrating that you meet the foundation competences
requirements. This will either be evidence of having successfully completed foundation training, or use of the
standard Alternative Certificate of Foundation Competence.
Experience
There are minimum and maximum experience requirements for CT1 Recruitment:
As a minimum, you must have at least 12 months experience after eligibility for full GMC registration (or
overseas equivalent) by August 2016; this means a minimum of 24 months working as a doctor.
However, applicants must have no more than 18 months' post-foundation level experience in medical
specialties to be eligible.

3.2 Specialty and region

You may already know whether you have a preference for CMT or ACCS-AM, as well as having a preference
on the region in which you wish to train.
However, whether you know or not, you may find it helpful to review information about the specialties and
regions, including vacancy numbers and interview dates.

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About ACCS: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/about-ct1/about-accs

About CMT: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/about-ct1/about-cmt

Data from previous years: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/about-ct1/previous-years-data

Regions: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/regions

Programme numbers and interview dates: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitmentprocess/dates-posts

We have published some general information about planning your application:

http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/planning-your-application

4 Applying
The first stage of the recruitment process requires you to complete and submit an application form via the
Oriel application system: https://www.oriel.nhs.uk
Oriel is the online system used to manage the recruitment process for all specialty training programmes in
the UK.
You can only make one application to ACCS-AM/CMT in each round. Your application will be considered at
your highest possible regional preference, depending on the outcome of short-listing (section 5.2).
Registering an account
When using the system for the first time you will be able to create an account and register a large amount of
information to the system eg personal details, employment history, etc. This will be saved and transferred
automatically to any applications you begin. It is possible to register an account prior to applications opening
and it is advisable to get a head start on making your application; many candidates take 10 hours or more to
complete their application.

4.1 The application form

Once the vacancy has opened you can begin your application by navigating to the Vacancies tab; this will
bring up a list of all specialty vacancies available in the current recruitment period and it is from here that
you start your application.
The JRCPTB runs a single recruitment process to ACCS-AM and CMT. Therefore, please apply via the core
medical training vacancy to be considered for both ACCS-AM and CMT programmes. An information only
ACCS-AM vacancy will be added to Oriel, to re-direct candidates.
Application pages
The application form consists of a number of sections, each examining a different area of your candidature,
(eg personal details, foundation competence, clinical references etc.) and each of which must be completed
before your application can be submitted. Key information about completing the form is detailed on the
website: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/applying/completing-the-application-form

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Evidence page
One of the most significant sections is that of the evidence page. Within this page, you will be invited to give
details of your achievements in various areas; your application is self-scored on the basis of these
achievements following a pre-set scoring system.
It is extremely important to score yourself accurately. Scores are not revised prior to interview where your
achievements are checked. Any instances of candidates trying to gain an unfair advantage by over-claiming
and/or exaggerating their achievements will be taken extremely seriously.
The application scoring system is published to the website. You should refer to this, and the guidance
therein, when completing this section of your application: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitmentprocess/applying/application-scoring

4.2 Submitting your application

Please be aware the majority of your application cannot be edited once it is submitted. So while it may seem
obvious, make sure you have checked your application and are fully satisfied with its content before you
submit.
We cannot emphasise too strongly that you should try to submit your application well in advance of the
closing deadline (4pm on Thursday 3 December 2015).
Applications cannot be submitted after the deadline and will not be accepted in any circumstances.

5 After submission
This section gives an overview of what happens after you submit your application form, prior to interview;
further information on this is on the website: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitmentprocess/applying/after-submission

5.1 Long-listing
Once you submit your application it will be allocated to the region you have nominated as your first-choice
preference to check your eligibility against the essential entry criteria.
If your application does not meet all criteria or further information is required, you may be asked to supply
additional documentation or details. If your eligibility cannot be established as satisfied, then it will be
rejected at this point, and not progress any further.
All long-listing will be completed by Monday 4 January 2016; ie by this date you will be notified of whether
or not your application has met all of entry/eligibility criteria, and can progress to short-listing.

5.2 Short-listing
Once it has been established which applications are eligible, short-listing takes place. This is a relatively short
process taking place between 5-7 January 2016; by this date, you will be notified whether your application
has been short-listed for interview and if so, at which of your regional preferences.

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The outcome of short-listing from recent years has been published to the CT1 Recruitment website to
provide an indication to candidates; although the outcome can never be guaranteed, there is a reasonable
degree of consistency between years: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/documents
Ranking & allocation
All eligible applications will be ranked nationally based on the short-list score, and will be allocated to regions
in this order. Where possible your application will be allocated to your #1 regional preference, however if
this regions capacity has been filled with higher-scoring applications, your application will be allocated to
your #2 preference and so on.
Not short-listed
In the event your application cannot be allocated it will be placed on a reserve list. Should a place become
available due to a higher scoring candidate withdrawing, and there is enough time before interviews, the
next highest scoring candidate will be invited to interview.

5.3 Invitation to interview

After short-listing is complete, you will be invited to book an interview slot via Oriel. You will be sent out a
notification via email that you can start booking, so please check your specified email account around this
time. This will be at least seven days in advance of interviews beginning in the region to which you have been
short-listed.
You will be given a deadline in which to book your interview slot; typically at least 72 hours. If you do not
book within the deadline your application will be withdrawn. It is possible to change your slot as many times
as you wish up until the booking deadline, subject to other slots being available.

5.4 Programme preferences

At some point during the period between short-listing being completed and offers commencing, each region
will contact their candidates to begin collecting programme preferences.
Regions will add information on their ACCS-AM and CMT vacancies to the Oriel system, including (where
possible) particular area/hospital locations, rotation content, specialties covered, etc.
You will then be asked to access your account on Oriel, consider the options, and divide them into two
groups preferences and not wanted. Any posts for which you wish to be considered ie those you add
to the preferences category are ranked in order of preference. It is important to note that if this is not
done, you will not be offered any posts!
Each region will set its own timeframe for when preferences must be selected, and this will be confirmed via
an email sent out when programmes are open to preference.
More information on preferences can be found on the website:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/offers-and-beyond/post-programme-preferences

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6 Interview
The next stage of the recruitment process is the CT1 interview; which will decide whether you and can be
considered for an offer.
As such, we very strongly advise you to review all information given here and on the website so that you are
as well prepared as possible: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/interview

6.1 Interview documentation

Prior to the interview you will need to gather and organise documentation to be provided on the day. This is
divided into two categories of documents:

Eligibility which demonstrate you meet the entry criteria

Evidence which back up the achievements (etc.) you included on the evidence page of your
application form.

You are required to provide these in two separate folders to hold these documents, labelled your eligibility
folder and evidence folder.
Some important points you will need to bear in mind:

Ideally use two lever-arch folders (one for each) with dividers to endure the folders are clear and
easy to navigate note that if interviewers cannot easily locate information this may have any
impact on your assessment.
For your eligibility folder ensure you have at least one photocopy, in addition to the original
document, of every document in your folder. No photocopies are required for documents in your
evidence folder
Ensure the evidence summary form is included in your evidence folder. This form can be found on
the CT1 website: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/documents
Remember to remove any patient identifiable data.

It is very important that these folders are laid out properly according to the published guidelines so you
should visit the website where this is examined in much greater detail:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/interview/preparing-for-interview
Included in this section of the website is a presentation detailing how your evidence folder should be set up,
which is very important for ensuring interviewers can review your achievements in the time available.

6.2 Interview structure & format

Rather than one single, long interview, the interview is divided into a series of shorter, independent
assessments, across three separate stations, scores for which are later weighted and compiled to give a final
overall assessment score.
Each interview station is staffed by two clinical consultants who will interview you and each of them will
award you a mark for each aspect they assess.
So with six areas assessed overall, and each aspect receiving two separate marks, this will see you receive 12
individual marks for your interview.

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Interview time
Each station will last for 10 minutes with a five minute break between stations so in total the interview will
last approximately 45 minutes.
More information on the interview format is on the website: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitmentprocess/interview/interview-structure-and-content

6.3 Interview content

The areas assessed at the three separate stations are below. Please know you may not proceed through the
stations in the order 1-2-3.
Station 1
Discussion here will focus on your application form and its content and reviewing your evidence
documentation. The two areas on which you will be assessed here are your suitability for & commitment to
CT1, and your achievements to date.
Station 2
Before entering the station you will be given a short clinical scenario to review, which you will then discuss
with the interviewers in the station. Marks will be awarded for your responses to the clinical scenario, and
on your communication skills with the interviewers, and with any hypothetical parties in the scenario.
Station 3
Before entering the station you will be given a short ethical scenario to review which you will then discuss
with the interviewers in the station. You will be assessed on your responses to the ethical scenario. For the
second assessment area, interviewers will ask you a question relating to the area of professionalism &
governance. You will be assessed on your understanding and demonstration of these principles.
Further information
Visit the website for further guidance on the areas of assessment at interview:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/interview/interview-structure-and-content

6.4 Scoring & assessment

Scoring framework
Each of the 12 scores awarded to you at interview will be whole numbers, between 1 and 5. The score is
judged in relation to how well you perform against an expected level; that expected during the second year
of UK foundation training.
On the next page is a table showing the framework used to award scores, as well as interpretation of what
these scores represent:

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Mark

Rating

Level of performance

poor

not considered appointable

area for concern

performed below the level expected at foundation level; possibly

unappointable

satisfactory

performed at the level expected during F2; the candidate is suitable

for appointment

good

performed at the level expected upon completion of F2

excellent

performed at the level expected at CT1 or above

Appointability status and ranking

As well as the scores awarded to you during your interview, an appointability status will be given to your
application (appointable or not appointable), to confirm whether you have displayed the required
competence consistently across all six assessment areas to be considered for an offer.
As implied, you will need to gain a status of appointable to be able to receive an offer. Any candidate
assessed as not appointable will progress no further in the recruitment round, regardless of their overall
score.
For each of the six topic areas assessed at interview, as well as your application form score received earlier in
the round, a weighting factor will be applied; all scores are then added together to give you a total score.
This score will be used to determine your ranking when making offers.
Details of the appointability rules and how the total score is calculated are on the website:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/interview/interview-scoring
Feedback
Your interview score breakdown will be available through Oriel once all CT1 interviews have been completed.
Further feedback on the comments made on the score sheets by interviewers may be available on request
from the region at which your interview was conducted.

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7 Offers
7.1 Making offers
Once interviews are complete, each region will be left with a pool of appointable candidates in rank order.
The next stage will be to match candidates to preferred positions and make offers.
Summary information is given below with detailed guidance on the website:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/offers-and-beyond
Appointable candidates will be considered for an offer in rank order, and offered their highest available
programme preference possible. Notification of offers are made by email.
In the event your first-choice preference has been offered to another candidate, you will instead be offered
your second-choice. If that has also gone, you will be offered your third-choice; and so on.
If you cannot be made an offer initially, because all of your preferences have been offered to higher ranking
candidates, you will be notified that you have been placed on the reserve list and considered should offers
be declined.
First offers deadline
The deadline for all regions to commence offers is Thursday 10 March, however most regions will start
offering well in advance of this date.

7.2 Responding to offers

First of all, please be aware that you must respond to an offer within 48 hours of it being made. This is 48
hours from when it was made not when it was received, or when you first became aware of it. This does
not include weekends but does include bank holidays.
You can only respond to offers via Oriel. When responding you will be presented with three options: accept;
reject; and hold. Should you opt to accept or hold, you will be given an additional option whether to be
considered for preference upgrades.
Holding offers
Holding an offer allows you to delay making a final decision on an offer beyond the standard 48 hour
deadline; usually because you are awaiting the outcome of an application to another specialty. You can only
hold one offer at a time, and the deadline for holding is 1pm on Thursday 17 March. If you do not accept
this offer by this date it will automatically be withdrawn.
Upgrading offers
If you have not been offered your first choice preference and you choose to be considered for upgrades, you
can remain in contention for a higher ranked preference should a higher ranking candidate decline the offer.
Upgrading will only take place until the upgrade deadline Thursday 24 March. After this point, offers will
not be upgraded regardless of whether programmes become available.

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7.3 Employment and references

Once you have a confirmed accepted offer, the region in which the programme is based will then contact you
with details of a contract of employment.
References will be requested directly from referees for those candidates who accept an offer. You do not
need to bring your references to interview or provide them yourself at any stage.
You can amend your references via your Oriel account after submitting your application form; giving you
opportunity to add more recent supervisors since completing your application should you wish to do so.
You can do this without restriction up until 9 March. After this point, should you need, you can still change
any of your referees unless they have submitted their reference.

8 Clearing
A period of national clearing will be introduced after the offers upgrading deadline. This will allow those
candidates deemed appointable but not ranked highly enough to be made an offer to be considered for
programmes outside of the region at which they were interviewed.
Candidates will be invited to participate, and to rank all ACCS-AM/CMT vacancies which remain nationally in
order of preference. Again candidates will be ranked nationally in order of their total score with offers made
in order of this ranking.
Timeline
The final date for regions to make offers before clearing is Friday 25 March. After this point, eligible
candidates will be invited to preference within approximately one week of this date. All offers in round 1 will
be made via national clearing after this deadline.
Further details on clearing can be found on the website: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitmentprocess/offers-and-beyond/national-clearing

9 Future recruitment
9.1 Round 2
There will be a second round of recruitment for programmes unfilled in round 1, or which subsequently
arise. Round 2 opens in March 2016; a full timeline for the round can be viewed on the website:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/dates-posts
Overlap with round 1
There is some overlap between round 2 and the offers period and clearing in round 1. In the event you were
to re-apply in round 2, this would not prevent you receiving an offer relating to your round 1 application at a
later date; and similarly, accepting the round 1 offer would not prevent your round 2 application from
progressing.

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Further information
The Round 2 section of the website contains more information:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/planning-your-application/round-2
More specific information about round 2, including an update to this guide, will be published nearer the
time.

9.2 2017 recruitment

We will begin to make specific information available on 2017 recruitment in summer/autumn 2016, as that
recruitment period approaches.
However, the existing 2016-specific information available on our website and this handbook can be taken as
a useful guide for how recruitment will be undertaken in 2017, as we do not expect significant changes.
Any further information on 2017 recruitment will be published initially to the Future recruitment section of
the website: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/recruitment-process/planning-your-application/futurerecruitment

10 Finally
We have endeavoured to make the process of recruitment to ACCS-AM and CMT CT1 programmes as fair,
transparent and streamlined as is possible for all parties.
We have consulted widely with trainees groups of all levels, consultants, Health Education England, the
devolved UK nations, all deaneries/LETBs, core training advisory committees, as well as recruitment offices
and groups for other specialties/programmes.
Further information
As noted, full information on CT1 Recruitment is available on our website: http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/
Should you have any queries relating to the recruitment process at any time, our website contains a section
giving details on the most frequently-asked and most pertinent questions relating to the process:
http://www.ct1recruitment.org.uk/help/overview
Otherwise, please email our recruitment helpdesk with any queries at ct1recruitment@jrcptb.org.uk.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you luck with your application,

The Specialty Recruitment Office

Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board

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