Specialty training
Applications for UK Specialty Training
Every application window with the date it closes, and what each UK specialty application actually scores, read from the recruitment office's own published guidance.
Application windows.
What scores for Core Surgical Training CT1.
Your portfolio is assessed and scored at interview. Nothing is self-scored on the Oriel form, but there is a published A to E framework, and the portfolio station was 45 per cent of the 2026 selection score.
Confirmed2026 recruitment; 2027 domains expected to changeNHS EnglandRead 1 October 2026
This is the 2025/26 process, the most recent guidance published in full. NHS England has said the 2027 domains are likely to be reorganised under Good Medical Practice headings. Check the current guidance before you apply.
How selection works
You do not enter a portfolio score on the Oriel application. If you are shortlisted after the MSRA, you upload evidence and pick an A to E indicator for each domain. Assessors review that evidence, question you on two domains they choose, and then award the portfolio score; they can move your indicators either way. The portfolio station was 45% of the 2026 selection score, the clinical and management station 45%, the MSRA 10%.
What is scored
Each domain has published A to E achievement indicators. They guide the assessors; there is no published conversion from a letter to a number of points. The portfolio interview and the prepared presentation are marked separately, on the interview framework.
- Upload one achievement per domain: the highest indicator you can evidence. Assessors read only the first item.
- An achievement can be claimed in one domain only, so claim it where it earns the higher indicator.
- No index page means a portfolio score of zero, and patient-identifiable evidence scores zero.
- Over-claiming is a probity matter and can be referred to the regulator.
Core Surgical Training CT1 scores each domain with a letter and publishes no conversion to a number. Adding these up would mean inventing the conversion the route withholds.
Operative experience
| Achievement | Indicator |
|---|---|
| Involvement in 40 or more cases | A |
| Involvement in 30-39 cases or more | B |
| Involvement in 20-29 cases | C |
| Involvement in 11-19 cases | D |
| Involved in 10 cases or less/no evidence | E |
Evidence: Verified elogbook consolidation sheet.
Surgical experience
| Achievement | Indicator |
|---|---|
| I have attended a surgical taster week (minimum 5 days, can be non-consecutive days) Or I have undertaken an elective in a surgical specialty as a medical student (minimum 4 weeks)Proof of completion must be provided. | A |
| I have not undertaken a surgical taster/elective/surgical placement | B |
Foundation placements are no longer accepted as surgical experience. They were allowed during the pandemic only, and from the 2025/26 round the route has returned to scoring elective or taster placements.
Evidence: Letter from supervisor regarding the surgical placement, including their GMC number.
Quality improvement or clinical audit: the project
| Achievement | Indicator |
|---|---|
| I was involved as Lead in ALL aspects of a surgically themed clinical audit or QI project that has demonstrated change (such as second cycle/closed audit loop)You participated in all stages of the audit/QI project (planning, data collection, data analysis, implementing change and involvement in at least two cycles). A proper change or improvement methodology was followed. The project must be surgically themed. | A |
| I was involved as Lead in ALL aspects of a clinical audit or QI project that has demonstrated change (such as second cycle/ closed audit loop)You participated in all stages of the audit (planning, data collection, data analysis, implementing change and involvement in at least two cycles). | B |
| I was involved as a contributor in a clinical audit or QI project that has demonstrated change (such as second cycle/ closed audit loop)You participated actively through multiple cycles. | C |
| I was involved in a clinical audit or QI projectFor example, you assisted with data collection for the project in at least one cycle. | D |
| None/other | E |
Use your single strongest project. The same project cannot also be used to claim an achievement in another domain, so if it could count here and under presentations and publications, claim it where it earns the higher indicator.
Evidence: Letter from your supervisor about the project, including their GMC number, plus slides or a written summary. No patient-identifiable information.
Quality improvement or clinical audit: presenting it
| Achievement | Indicator |
|---|---|
| Applicant presented both cycles of data or presented the intervention and change aspects of a project at a meetingThe applicant personally presented the project, evidenced by first author on the presentation slides and a letter of acceptance for the meeting. | A |
| Applicant presented one cycle of the project at a meetingThe applicant personally presented the project, evidenced by first author on the presentation slides and a letter of acceptance for the meeting. | B |
| Applicant did not present any aspect of the project | C |
This does not have to be a national conference. From the 2025/26 round assessors expect to see the project presented in the area it was meant to change, so a local departmental meeting is the presentation that counts here.
Evidence: Certificate or letter of presentation.
Presentations and publications
| Achievement | Indicator |
|---|---|
| I have won the top prize for delivering an oral presentation at a national or international medical meeting convened by an accredited institution after being invited/selected to do soPersonal delivery of the presentation is required. This does not include “oral poster presentations”. | A |
| I am first author of a PubMed-cited publication (or in press) not including a case report or editorial letterEvidence of PubMed ID number. | A |
| I have delivered an oral presentation at a national or international medical meeting convened by an accredited institution after being selected to do soPersonal delivery of the presentation is required. This does not include “oral poster presentations”. | B |
| I am first author of a prize-winning poster or oral poster presentation presented at an international or national medical meeting convened by an accredited institution after being invited/selected to do soPersonal delivery of the presentation is required. | B |
| I am first author of a PubMed-cited publication of a case report or editorial letter (or in press) Or I have written a book chapter related to medicine which has been published (not self-published)Evidence of PubMed ID number. | B |
| I am a named co-author of one PubMed-cited publication (or in press) | C |
| I am first author for a poster or oral poster presentation presented at an international or national medical meeting convened by an accredited institution after being invited/selected to do so | D |
| I have given an oral presentation at a regional medical meeting after being invited/selected to do soPersonal delivery of the presentation is required. | D |
| I am a Cited Collaborative author as part of a research collaborative publicationDoes not require named authorship alongside the publication title. | D |
| None/other | E |
Attending a conference scores nothing on its own. What is assessed is what you presented there, who authored it, how big the meeting was, and whether you delivered it yourself. The conference must be convened by an accredited institution.
Evidence: The publication with its PubMed ID, or a letter of acceptance, or the slides or poster, or the book chapter. Plus a letter of acceptance and attendance certificate from the conference, and a copy of any prize certificate.
Teaching experience
| Achievement | Indicator |
|---|---|
| I have worked with local educators to design and organise a face-to-face teaching programme (a series of sessions defined as 4 or more) to enhance organised teaching for healthcare professionals or medical students And I have delivered at least 4 sessions of that teaching | A |
| I have worked with local educators to design and organise a teaching programme (a series of sessions defined as 4 or more) to enhance organised teaching for healthcare professionals or medical students in an online format And I have delivered at least 4 sessions of that teaching | B |
| I have worked with local educators to design and organise a teaching programme (a series of sessions defined as 4 or more) to enhance organised teaching for healthcare professionals or medical students. I have delivered less than 4 sessions of that teaching | C |
| I have provided regular teaching for healthcare professionals or medical students over the last year (4 or more sessions/year) Or I have undertaken some educational activity focused on learning to teach | D |
| I have not provided teaching | E |
Evidence: Letter from your supervisor about the teaching, including their GMC number, plus feedback and any certificate from the educational event.
Attending scores nothing on its own. What is assessed is what you presented, who authored it, how large the meeting was and whether you delivered it yourself. The directory shows which listings Core Surgical Training accepts.
Still counts before 19 Nov.
CST: nothing new will count for 2027. No open call finishes before Round 1 closes.
For next year.
2026 round figures · 2027 not yet published
Self-assessed and unofficial. What you claim is verified by the recruitment office, and your authorship, whether the panel judges the work related to the specialty, and whether you presented it yourself can all bring a claim down. This is not a threshold, a pass mark or a prediction that you will be shortlisted. Round 1 closes 19 November 2026.