Free guide
The full round in order, from the Oriel application window to the day the post starts. Interviews are October–November 1969.
Source: PHST Recruitment . Always confirm against the official guidance for your own round.
Physician higher specialty training recruits twice annually. Round 1 opens in November and fills programmes starting the following August to December. Round 2 opens in late July and fills programmes starting February to April. Both use the same national application on Oriel and the same interview format.
The timeline below is Round 2 of the 1969 recruitment year — the round whose interviews run October–November 1969 for posts starting February–March 1970.
10:00, 28 July 2026
The single national application form opens. You apply to a specialty, not to an individual post, and rank your regional preferences later.
16:00, 13 August 2026
A hard deadline. Oriel does not accept late submissions, and the form cannot be edited after you submit it.
August – September 2026
Applications are checked against the person specification. Failing an essential criterion removes you at this stage regardless of how strong the rest is.
September – October 2026
Your portfolio self-assessment score determines whether you are invited to interview. Every claim you scored yourself on must be evidenced.
October – November 2026
Held virtually on Qpercom. Two stations, each with two interviewers, scored against the national domain framework.
From November 2026
Offers are made in rank order through Oriel. You have a limited window to accept, hold or decline — check Oriel daily once offers begin.
February – April 2027
Programmes start. Round 1 of the next cycle opens in the November before.
Before applications open. Portfolio evidence is the part you cannot rush — teaching, audit and quality improvement, leadership roles, publications and presentations all have to already exist. Check the person specification early: failing an essential criterion ends the application regardless of everything else.
While the window is open. Complete every section. Incomplete forms are rejected at longlisting, and the form cannot be edited after submission. Score your self-assessment honestly — every claim is verified, and an unevidenced claim can cost you more than the point it was worth.
Between shortlisting and interview. This is the window that decides your rank. Six to eight weeks is enough to become genuinely structured; two weeks is enough to become anxious. How scoring works explains what the panel is actually marking.
Dates are those published by the PHST recruitment office for this round. Specialty-specific interview dates are released separately and vary — check your Oriel account and the PHST page for your specialty, and treat those as authoritative over this summary.
Interviews are October–November 2026. The practice libraries cover every domain the panel scores — clinical scenarios, registrar capability, ethics, portfolio and the presentation — with model answers and the Score-5 anchors.
Browse the specialty libraries