2022 ST3 General Surgery

Supplementary Applicant Handbook

Contents

Contents .......................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 3
Summary of changes for 2022 recruitment ...................................................... 3
How to apply ................................................................................................... 4
Eligibility and Longlisting ................................................................................. 4
Special circumstances and Fitness to Practise ................................................ 4
Deferred start dates and Less Than Full Time ................................................. 5
October rotations ............................................................................................. 5
Verification shortlisting process ....................................................................... 5
Interviews ........................................................................................................ 5
Online interview process ................................................................................. 6
Reasonable adjustments and Guaranteed interview scheme .......................... 7
Ranking, Outcomes & Preferencing ................................................................ 7
Offers, References and Scoresheet ................................................................ 7
Allocation......................................................................................................... 8
Enquiries & FAQs ............................................................................................ 8
Useful links ...................................................................................................... 8
Appendix 1 – Longlisting ................................................................................. 9
Appendix 2 – General Surgery Self-Assessment Form.................................. 10
Self-Assessment Weighting........................................................................... 16
Introduction
The National Recruitment Office for General Surgery ST3 is Health Education England – London
and Kent, Surrey and Sussex (HEE London & KSS).

This guide aims to provide applicants with information regarding all aspects of the nationally
coordinated General Surgery recruitment in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
General information regarding recruitment to all specialty training posts is available on the Specialty
Training website and in the 2022 Medical Specialty Applicant Handbook available to download from
the Oriel resource bank.

Please note that all communication with applicants will be via Oriel, or via the contact details
you provide as part of your Oriel application. You must ensure that your contact details are
correct and kept up to date throughout the recruitment process.

Summary of changes for 2022 recruitment

Apart from the main change of General Surgery recruitment running separately to Vascular
Surgery recruitment, the 2022 recruitment will continue and follow the same process as 2021,
which was adopted due to the covid-19 outbreak. Details of these changes are provided
throughout this handbook in conjunction with central guidance issued by the national recruitment
team that applies across specialties. You can find the central guidance in the resource bank of the
HEE specialty training website https://specialtytraining.hee.nhs.uk/Resources-Bank.

You must read both this Supplementary Handbook and the Medical Specialty Applicant
Guide before beginning your application.

Recruitment will involve the following stages (which are outlined in more detail in the relevant
sections of this handbook).

As part of the Oriel application form you will be asked to provide a self-assessment score depending
on your personal achievements. Your total self-assessment score will be used for shortlisting
purposes.

In line with interview capacity, shortlisted candidates with the highest scores will be invited to attend
a remote interview. Each candidate will have a 35-minute interview assessing a clinical scenario, a
management scenario and a discussion of their career to date.

A combination of your verified evidence score, and scores at interview will be used to determine
your final total score and ranking.

Timeline and Key Dates

Activity Date(s)
Advert appears Tuesday 16 November 2021
Applications open At 10am on Thursday 18 November 2021
Applications close At 4pm on Thursday 9 December 2021
Evidence verification upload 10 January 2022 – 21 January 2022
Interview dates 4 - 6 April 2022
Interview venue Remote interview via Microsoft Teams
 Preferences Open TBC
Preferences Close TBC
Initial offers released all regions By 5pm on Thursday 21 April 2022
Hold deadline At 1pm on Tuesday 3 May 2022
Upgrading deadline At 1pm on Wednesday 4 May 2022
Training start date August/December 2022 (TBC by employing trust)

Please note these dates are subject to change but applicants will be notified in advance if it is
necessary to make any amendments to the timeline.

How to apply
General Surgery recruitment to programmes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is
managed via a nationally coordinated process hosted by London and Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Recruitment Office on behalf of the General Surgery Specialty Advisory Committees (SAC).
Applicants wishing to apply for Vascular surgery posts this year will need to apply via the separate
Vascular application.

Further programme and rotation information will be available at the point of preferencing at a later
date in the process. Information will be sent to applicants’ Oriel account and copied to their
registered email inbox with instructions on how to complete preferencing. In addition, indicative post
numbers for each HEE local office/deanery will be made available within the advert.
Applications will only be accepted through Oriel between 10am on Thursday 18 November 2021 and
4pm on Thursday 9 December 2021. Please be aware applications received after this time will not
be accepted and there will be no exceptions to this. The recruitment timeline is available on Oriel
and the HEE London & KSS website.

To register on Oriel, you must ensure you have a valid email address. Communication between HEE
London & KSS Recruitment Office and applicants will be primarily via Oriel. Applicants should check
their Oriel and personal email account at least once every 24 hours.

Eligibility and Longlisting

Applicants must meet the entry criteria in order to be considered for specialty training. It is important
to note that your application is likely to be rejected prior to the interview stage should you fail a
criterion assessed at longlisting. Please refer to the person specifications for full details of entry
criteria.

Your application will be longlisted against the entry criteria as outlined on the person specification.
Please be aware that applicants may still be withdrawn from the application process at any stage if
found to be ineligible to apply even if you have been made an offer.

Special circumstances and Fitness to Practise

Please refer to the 2022 Medical Specialty Applicant Handbook for guidance on special
circumstances. The relevant section starts on page 22.

Any candidate who answers 'yes' to one or more of the questions in the Fitness to Practise section
of the application form, must complete the HEE London & KSS Recruitment Office Fitness to
Practise (FTP) declaration form providing further details regarding their affirmative/positive answer.
Please refer to the guidance and relevant forms which can be found within our applicant support
portal: https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/home

Deferred start dates and Less Than Full Time

Further information on how to request a deferred start date or training less than full time (LTFT)
can be found in the 2022 Medical Specialty Applicant Handbook.

October rotations
Candidates currently in core surgical training posts who are expected to complete core surgical
training in October 2022 rather than August 2022 are eligible to apply for the 2022 round of General
Surgery ST3 recruitment.

Verification shortlisting process

The self-assessment will be completed online as part of the Oriel application. The self-assessment
scores will be used to shortlist candidates for interview.

Applicants will be provided with further instructions about how to upload evidence to the evidence
portal in due course. Applicants should ensure that they present the evidence in the requested
format. Failure to do so could result in your evidence being rejected.

Please note for applicants who applied to a specialty that used the Self-Assessment portal for the
2021 recruitment year (posts commencing from August 2021 – February 2022) your self-assessment
portal account that was created in the last recruitment year has been deleted in line with the privacy
policy and information governance guidelines. This means your previous credentials will not work
when attempting to login to the system.

Failure to submit all evidence by the stated deadline will result in your application form being
withdrawn by the recruitment team. The upload window is from 10 to 21 January 2022.

Recruitment administrators will not be able to upload evidence on behalf of applicants and once the
deadline for submission has passed, applicant access will be withdrawn.

Submitted evidence will be verified against the self-assessment criteria for all short-listed applicants.
Where the evidence submitted does not match the score awarded, the score will be adjusted
accordingly.

On completion of the verification process, applicants will be sent their verified score. Where the
applicant disagrees with the score awarded, they can lodge an appeal.

Appeals received after the 72-hour deadline will not be considered. The outcome of the appeal is
final and there is no further recourse for dissatisfied applicants. Disagreements over self-
assessment scores fall out of scope of the MDRS Complaints Policy.

Interviews
Applicants will need to book an interview slot using their Oriel account. Slots are offered on a first
come first served basis subject to availability and will need to be booked by the deadline stated in
the invitation to interview. Further information on how to book an interview slot can be found in Oriel
Applicant User Guide. Applicants can attend only one interview regardless of where they wish to
train in England, Wales and Scotland. Interviews will be held remotely via Microsoft Teams.

Interview dates: Monday 4 April – Wednesday 6 April 2022

Online interview process
All interviews will be undertaken online using Microsoft Teams. Applicants should ensure that they
install the MS Teams app prior to their interview taking place. As soon as the link to join the
interview has been received, applicants should ensure that they test this from the device they plan
to use for their interviews as they may need to source an alternative device to ensure connectivity.
Any applicants unable to connect should contact the recruitment team at the earliest opportunity.
When testing the link, applicants should reach a screen that states that the host will commence the
meeting shortly or similar wording.

If you are unable to connect directly from the link, try pasting the URL link into the browser, or try
using an incognito browser.

On the day of the interview, each applicant should click on the link and join the call 5 minutes prior
to their allocated time. Applicants will be kept in the lobby area until the interview panel are ready
for them at which time they will be admitted into the interview.

Applicants should ensure that their camera and microphone are turned on and working correctly
prior to joining the call. Interviews will be terminated where the panel cannot see the applicant.

Before the interview commences, applicants will be briefed on the interview process and will be
required to confirm their identity with the interview administrator. It is therefore important that
applicants have suitable photographic ID available (passport or UK photo driving license). In
addition, applicants will be required to move their camera to show the entire room where they are
undertaking the interview, to confirm that nobody else is present.

Once identity has been confirmed, the administrator will advise the interview panel that the interview
process can commence.

The interview must not be recorded by either the applicant, the administrator or the panel
members.

On completion of the interview, the applicant should terminate their connection to the call and the
interview process is complete. The interview station will cover different criteria from the person
specification and last approximately 35 minutes.

Before you attend the interview it is very important that you have prepared properly. The interview
will assess different areas of your skills, knowledge and experience. The station will have two or
three consultant interviewers. There may be another person present as an observer who will not be
assessing candidates. This may be the Lay Representative who is there in an independent role to
assist in the quality assurance of the interview process, or a Consultant who is present to observe
and assess the interviewers. There will be a maximum of one observer present at any time. The
interview will be split into the following sections:

 Clinical & Management scenarios reading time (5 minutes)

You will be given two scenarios and have 5 minutes reading time prior to the interview– one scenario
will be clinical about a patient, and one will be a management scenario about a problem based in the
clinical environment.

 Clinical scenario & questions (10 minutes)

You will have 10 minutes to answer questions about the clinical scenario and other related
questions.
 Management scenario & questions (10 minutes)
You will have 10 minutes to answer questions about the management scenario and other related
questions.

 Portfolio questions (10 minutes)

You will have 10 minutes to answer questions about aspects of your career to date. You do not need
to prepare or present a hard copy of your portfolio. Evidence from your portfolio should have been
uploaded electronically to support your self-assessment score. Portfolio evidence will not be available
to the interviewers to review during your interview.

Reasonable adjustments and Guaranteed interview scheme

London and KSS recruitment will ensure, where possible, that reasonable adjustments are made at
interview to meet the needs of applicants with disabilities. Applicants must ensure that they include
this on the application form and enter an early dialogue with the recruiting organisation. Failure to
provide the requested information and documentation by the stated deadline will result in
adjustments and/or Guaranteed Interview Scheme status not being met.

For more information regarding reasonable adjustments and disability confident scheme please
refer to the MDRS applicant guide

Ranking, Outcomes & Preferencing

Eligible applicants will be invited to preference available posts on Oriel prior to offers being made.
The preferencing window will be confirmed in an email from the recruitment team. For guidance on
how to rank/submit your preferences please refer to the Oriel Applicant User Guide.

Your ranking will be based on your interview and verified self-assessment scores. Scores will be
collated to generate one national ranking from which offers will be made to all available posts.
Following interview and ranking, applicants will either be deemed successful or unsuccessful and
will be informed of this via Oriel.

Offers, References and Scoresheet

Offers will be made to those successful applicants that have ‘matched’ to a post and will be based
on the applicant’s ranking and preferences. Offers will be made via Oriel by Thursday 21 April 2022.

Following initial offers being released, further offers will be made in subsequent iterations.
Applicants have 48 hours from the time of offer (excluding weekends) to confirm via Oriel whether
they wish to accept, reject or hold their offer. Offers made after the hold deadline will only have the
option to accept or reject.

Applicants can also choose to opt in or out of ‘Upgrading’ – by choosing to opt in; if a post becomes
available that an applicant has preferenced higher than the one they have chosen to accept they will
automatically be upgraded to this new post. Refer to the timeline for the various deadlines.

References
Reference reports are not used at eligibility checking or at the selection centre but will be reviewed
by the perspective employing Trust after offers have been made and prior to confirmation of
appointment for successful applicants. This will only be requested electronically via Oriel when an
offer has been accepted. Guidance on completing references is available via the Oriel resource
bank.
Scoresheets will be released to ALL applicants on a specified date. The recruitment office will
communicate this date to applicants, therefore you do not need to request your scoresheets after
interview.

Allocation
Once an offer has been accepted, appointee’s details will be passed on to the local training
boards/programme director around 14 weeks prior to your start date and to the first Trust you have
been appointed to 12 weeks prior to your start date. Therefore, you should not expect to receive any
communication prior to this time.

Enquiries & FAQs

Should you have any queries relating to the recruitment process for General Surgery you can
contact HEE London & KSS via our online enquiries portal -
https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/home

Useful links
Recruitment portal - https://www.oriel.nhs.uk/web
Recruitment website - https://london.hee.nhs.uk/recruitment
Person Specifications - https://specialtytraining.hee.nhs.uk/Recruitment/Person-specifications
UK Border Agency website - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and-immigration
CESR (CP) - https://www.gmc-uk.org/
CCT - https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/standards-guidance-and-curricula/curricula/general-
surgery-curriculum
ISCP - https://www.iscp.ac.uk/
Appendix 1 – Longlisting
At the longlisting stage your application will be reviewed in line with the entry criteria set out in the
nationally agreed person specification for General Surgery ST3. It is essential that you provide the
evidence below in your application form. If you fail to follow these instructions, it is highly likely that
your application will be withdrawn from the recruitment process.

The following criteria will be assessed at longlisting stage:

Criteria Action Required

MBBS or equivalent Please include your MBBS, or equivalent, qualification in

the ‘Entry Qualifications’ section of the application form.
Please indicate this as your primary qualification.

MRCS or equivalent (by time of You must have passed full MRCS by the time of the post
post start date) start date. You should list MRCS in the ‘Entry Qualifications’
section of the application form, in addition to confirming that
you have MRCS at time of application where asked “Do you
currently have full MRCS?”. Alternatively confirm that you
will be sitting/have sat the MRCS exam by the post start
date when asked “Are you sitting an MRCS examination in
the May 2022 diet (or earlier) that will lead to full MRCS
qualification”
Complete employment history You must provide details of all posts undertaken following
the award of your primary medical qualification. This
includes Foundation posts and work undertaken overseas.
Evidence of achievement of Candidates not currently undertaking Core Surgical
CT1 competences in surgery by Training will be required to submit evidence proving
time of application and CT2 achievement of the requisite competences, of which an
competences in surgery by time ARCP 1 at CT2 level or a signed CREHST are the only
of appointment. acceptable documents. Applicants providing incomplete or
unsatisfactory evidence will be provided 48 hours to submit
satisfactory evidence.
Appendix 2 – General Surgery Self-Assessment Form
Listed below are the 10 Self-Assessment questions that appear on the application form along with
the possible responses to each question and details of suitable evidence to substantiate your
responses.

If the interviewers are unable to verify that your evidence matches the answers you provided on
your application form, you will not be awarded any marks for those criteria.

If it is subsequently discovered that any statement is false or misleading, evidence will be collected,
and you may be referred to a Probity Panel.

Please note all time periods specified in the Self-Assessment Form refer to full-time e
quivalent.

Question 1

By the end of July 2022, or by the completion of Core Training if this is later, how many months
will you have spent in total in any job in medicine post foundation programme? This includes
clinical and non-clinical jobs in any speciality.

Responses N=

• 0 to 27 months 1

• 28 to 39 months 2

• 40 to 51 months 3

• 52 to 63 months 4

• 64 months or more 5

• The value attributed to this question “N” will not contribute to the overall Self-Assessment
score
• The recruitment team will divide the final scores recorded for questions 5a, 5b, 6 and 7 by
“N”
Evidence:

• Please provide evidence of completion of training posts

• For non-training posts please provide a copy of the front page of your contract of
employment, which includes dates
Question 2

By the end of July 2022, or by the completion of Core Training if this is later, how many months
will you have spent in total in General Surgery and/or Vascular Surgery in any post-Foundation
job in any country? Please do not include any other posts

Responses Score

• 0 to 9 months 2

• 10 – 16 months 6

• 17 -20 months 7

• 21 - 30 months 8

• 31 to 59 months 4

• 60 months or more 1

Evidence:

• Please provide evidence of completion of training posts

• For non-training posts please provide a copy of the front page of your contract of
employment, including start and finish dates

Question 3

By the end of July 2022, or the completion of Core Training, will you have spent at least 4
months in T&O, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, ENT Surgery, Cardiac/Thoracic surgery, A&E,
ITU, Paediatric Surgery, Urology or OMFS posts since completing your Foundation Programme?

Responses Score

• I will not have spent 4 months in any of these specialities 0

• I will have spent at least 4 months in a post in 1 of these specialities 1

• I will have spent at least 4 months in posts in 2 or more of these 2

specialities
Evidence:

• Please provide evidence of completion of training posts

• For non-training posts please provide a copy of the front page of your contract of
employment which includes dates
• If the front page of your contract does not include both start and finish dates other
evidence will be required to confirm the duration of post e.g. Letter from HR/Head
of Service/Supervising Consultant
Question 4

At the time of application, how many appendicectomies (laparoscopic and/or open) have you
completed which have been done either STS or STU or P or T? These must be recorded in a
validated logbook.

Responses Score

• 0 to 9 1

• 10 to 24 2

• 25 to 39 3

• 40 to 99 4

• 100 or more 1

Evidence:

• You must provide full logbook evidence. Consolidation sheets from a validated logbook
are acceptable. You will be asked for a log of your total index procedures performed since
qualification (appendicectomies, inguinal hernias and cholecystectomies).

Question 5a

At the time of application, how many 1st author publications have you had published in any
PubMed indexed journals? Do not include published abstracts, case reports, letters or technical
tips.

Responses Score

• Numerical count of first author papers 2 per paper

with PMID (PubMed identifier)

Evidence:

• Please provide a PMID (PubMed identifier) for each paper

• Collaborative papers may be included in this section if you can provide evidence of
significant involvement in the steering committee, writing group or are regional lead in the
study§. Maximum of 1 paper per collaboration.
 Question 5b

At the time of application, how many other publications have you had published in any PubMed
indexed journals? Do not include published abstracts, case reports, letters or technical tips.

Responses Score

• Numerical count of other papers with 1 per paper

PMID (PubMed identifier)
Evidence:

• Please provide a PMID (PubMed identifier) for each paper

• Collaborative papers may be included in this section if you have been referenced as a
local lead, local collaborator or data validator in the study§. Maximum of 1 paper per
collaboration.

§ -Recognising contributions to work in research collaboratives: Guidelines for standardising reporting of

authorship in collaborative research. Int J Sur 52: 355-360 (2018)

Question 6

At the time of application and since graduation as a doctor, how many national and
international presentations have been given of work in which you are a listed author? Do not
include poster presentations.
Responses Score

• Numerical count of presentations 1 per evidence

Evidence:

• Please provide a copy of the relevant page of the meeting programme(s)

Question 7

At the time of application how many audits against a published standard or quality improvement
projects have you undertaken, which have resulted in a presentation of the results?

Responses Score

• Numerical count of audits 1 per audit/QIP

Evidence:

• Please provide a summary of the audit or quality improvement project and evidence of
presentation.
• If you have been involved in a closed-loop audit and can demonstrate
active involvement, each cycle would count e.g. a full cycle counts
as 2 audits
Question 8

At the time of application, have you completed and been awarded a stand-alone UK higher
degree or equivalent (see evidence below) examined by thesis/dissertation? (NB: This does not
include intercalated degrees)
Responses Score

• Masters (e.g. MSc, MMedEd, MS, ChM) 1

• PhD, MD 2

Evidence:

• Please provide your degree certificate

• If your degree was taken outside the UK, you must also provide evidence of its
equivalence (e.g. a letter from the institution confirming that it was awarded following the
production of a research-based thesis and full examination together with a copy of your
results transcript).
• We are aware of organisations such as UK NARIC however the Selection Leads will
be the final arbitrators.

Question 9

Please select one statement that best describes your involvement in leadership or management
since your primary medical qualification.
Responses Score

• I have provided evidence in my portfolio of a formal 2

leadership or management role within or outside of medicine
at a national or regional level
• I have provided evidence in my portfolio of a formal 1
leadership or management role within or outside of medicine
at a local or Trust level
• I have had no significant involvement in leadership or 0
management
Evidence:

• Please supply evidence to support your response

Question 10

I have a formal qualification in teaching.

Responses Score

• PG Cert or equivalent 2

• Training the Trainers or equivalent 1

• None 0

Evidence:

• Please supply evidence to support your response

• Evidence of equivalence should include mapping the outcomes of the course submitted
to the outcomes of the qualifications listed in the question
Self-Assessment Weighting
Below are details on the formulas used to weight the self-assessment scores.

The value attributed to Q1 (N) does not contribute to the overall score. N is used to weight Q5a, Q5b,
Q6 and Q7. Candidates may score more in these questions as a reflection of increased time in
various posts. N is therefore used as a denominator to balance this anomaly. The scores for Q5a,
Q5b, Q6 and Q7 will be divided by N. A maximum score is also applied to these questions.

The maximum achievable self-assessed score is 34 and the minimum score is 2.

Please see the table below for the score per item, the weighting applied and the maximum score for
questions 5 to 7.

Question Score Available Weighting Formula Maximum Score

5a 2 per paper
((Q5a x 2) + Q5b) / N 8
5b 1 per paper

6 1 per presentation Q6 / N 2

7 1 per audit Q7 / N 4

For example, a candidate who has worked for three years (clinical or non-clinical) since Foundation
Training will score an N of 2. If they have 8 first-author publications, 6 other publications, 2 national
presentations and 3 audits which have been validated then their score will be as follows:

Question Validated Score Weighting Formula Weighted Score

5a 8
8 (maximum
(8 x 2) + 6) / 2 = 11
5b 6 score)

6 2 2/2 =1 1

7 3 3 / 2 = 1.5 1.5