Sample Questions asked in Interviews for working in NHS Hospitals in the UK Below are some examples of interview questions

that are typically asked in NHS hospital interviews- please review these questions
1. Tell us a bit about yourself and why you want to come to work with our Hospital o Look up the hospital website www.northamptongeneral.nhs.uk 2. What key attributes (characteristic) to you think make a good nurse? 3. How has your training and experience helped to develop these? 4. What support do you think you will need in your first 3 to 6 months? 5. What are the essentials of infection prevention? 6. If I walked onto a ward where you were working how would I be able to tell that the patients you were allocated were being cared for? o Pts look comfortable, no signs of distress or pain etc 7. How can you ensure good practice is maintained on your ward? 8. How do you feel when a colleague or patient holds an opinion which differs from your own? o Think of religion/ colour/ nationality/ gender Can you tell me about a time that this has happened? How did you deal with the situation? In the event of the death of a patient how would you manager this situation? What have you done to find out about nursing in the NHS? o Example: website/ nursing forums etc What are the challenges facing the NHS at the moment? o Cut backs etc How do you think the role of the nurse differs between Portugal and England? o Drug names/ nurses paperwork/ working hours What aspects of your degree nursing programme did you find the most interesting and challenging? o Discuss key points e.g. gaining knowledge of diseases processes and seeing the real impact on a persons life (linking theory to practice). Observing / assisting with treatments / procedures and following the patients journey o Supporting a pt who is dying or coping with a long term illness o Using reflection to learn from practice

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. Do you keep up to date about changes in healthcare/ Medicine? 17. What is the latest health/ medical publication that you have read? o Discuss any articles that are relevant to nursing in Portugal/ UK o Drug changes 18. What are the latest developments and changes in the healthcare system in Portugal? 19. Are you aware of any changes in the NHS?

o Cutbacks o Central London NHS hospitals not recruiting at the moment due to the overspend in the budget 20. During the medicine round you cant find Mr Smith to give him his tablets, you find him in the bath, and he asks you to leave them on the table next to his clothes in the bathroom. What is your next action? Explain to pt that you must no leave medicines on the table and will give them to him when he has finished in the bathroom o Discuss risk of leaving medication unattended 21. Its 6am and your colleague is off the ward on her break, an acutely ill pt has just arrived on the ward following surgery and a pt has just fallen out of bed, what is your next action? o o o o o o Attend to pt immediately and assess if collapsed / injured Send colleague to get help, call colleague from break if needed Do not try to move pt back to bed until assistance arrives, make comfortable Do vital signs, reassure pt Call doctor and ensure assessment Fill in incident report o

22. What are your strengths and weaknesses? 23. What speciality would you like to work in?

Remember these questions are just examples of those you may be asked. Please read up on notes in relation to your specialty, conditions of the patients, anatomy and physiology, equipment used, nursing care, drugs used and day to day questions. Useful Websites:
Nursing and midwifery council (UK)L www.nmc-uk.org National Health Service; www.nhs.uk Royal College of Nursing: www.rcn.org.uk Department of Health: www.doh.gov.uk Kate Cowhig International Recruitment: www.kcr.ie Unison: www.unison.co.uk