NHS values-based interview prep
The NHS scores your values as well as your competence. Here is what values-based recruitment means, the six values you are assessed against, and how to evidence each with a real, STAR-structured example.
A values-based interview assesses how your attitudes and behaviours align with the values of the NHS Constitution for England — not only whether you are clinically capable. NHS employers use values-based recruitment so that the people they hire share the values patients expect. In practice, the panel asks for real examples (“tell us about a time you…”) and scores how you demonstrated a value. Prepare one genuine example per value, and deliver each with STAR — Situation, Task, Action, Result — spending most of your answer on the Action you personally took.
The six NHS values — and how to evidence each
The values of the NHS Constitution for England (updated 1 January 2021).
1. Working together for patients
Patients come first in everything the NHS does; staff work across teams, organisations and boundaries in the patient’s interest.
Prepare an example: Describe a time you coordinated with another team or profession to get a patient the right care.
2. Respect and dignity
Every person is valued as an individual, their aspirations and commitments respected, and their diverse needs, backgrounds and abilities understood.
Prepare an example: Give an example of protecting a patient’s dignity or adapting to someone’s individual needs or beliefs.
3. Commitment to quality of care
The NHS earns trust by delivering high-quality care that is safe, effective and focused on patient experience, and by learning openly from mistakes.
Prepare an example: Describe how you improved safety or quality, or how you responded when something went wrong.
4. Compassion
Care and kindness respond to individual needs; the small things that matter to people are found and valued, not overlooked.
Prepare an example: Recall a moment you went beyond the clinical task to respond to a person’s distress or humanity.
5. Improving lives
The NHS strives to improve health and wellbeing and people’s experiences of the NHS, valuing excellence and professionalism.
Prepare an example: Show a change, audit or piece of teaching you led that measurably improved outcomes or experience.
6. Everyone counts
Resources are used for the whole community, no one is excluded or discriminated against, and nothing is wasted.
Prepare an example: Give an example of reducing inequality, including someone at risk of exclusion, or using resources wisely.
The 6 Cs (for nursing & care roles)
Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage and Commitment come from NHS England’s Compassion in Practice (2012). Nursing, midwifery and care panels often frame values questions around them.
- Care
- Care is the core business — it defines us and our work.
- Compassion
- How care is given through relationships based on empathy, respect and dignity.
- Competence
- The expertise, knowledge and skills to deliver effective care based on evidence.
- Communication
- Listening as much as speaking; central to caring relationships and teamwork.
- Courage
- Doing the right thing, speaking up when there are concerns, and embracing new ways of working.
- Commitment
- To patients and populations — the cornerstone of what we do.
Deliver each example with STAR
- S — Situation: Set the scene in one or two sentences — where you were, your role, and the challenge.
- T — Task: What specifically needed to happen, and what were you responsible for?
- A — Action: What YOU did — the largest part of the answer, in the first person (“I”, not “we”).
- R — Result: The outcome, quantified where honest, and what you learned or changed afterwards.
Get the full values-based interview pack
An NHS values-based interview panel scores you against the six values of the NHS Constitution for England — not just your clinical competence. Prepare a real, STAR-structured example for each.
- Compassion
- respond to individual needs
- Respect and dignity
- value each person as an individual
- Commitment to quality of care
- safe, effective, open to learning
+ 3 more not shown here. As of NHS Constitution for England, updated 1 January 2021. Source: NHS Constitution for England (DHSC).
Get the NHS CV template + values-based interview guide
A copy-pasteable NHS CV / application skeleton and a full interview guide — the STAR structure, all six NHS values with an evidence prompt for each, and 12 common questions with model-answer structures. Emailed to you, free. Information only — you apply to NHS employers directly; we do not place you.
Sources
Every fact on this page is taken from the official sources below, verified 2026-07-03. Confirm the current guidance before you rely on it.
- The NHS Constitution for England — Department of Health & Social Care
- NHS values — Health Careers — NHS Health Careers (NHS England)
- NHS Jobs — the official NHS application portal — NHS Business Services Authority
Continue preparing
NHS CV & interview hub
Start here: the whole guide in one place, plus the free template + interview pack.
How to write an NHS CV
Section-by-section: what an NHS CV and NHS Jobs application actually needs.
Common NHS interview questions
Real question types with a model-answer structure for each.
NHS take-home pay calculator
See your real net pay by band or grade before you apply.
UK registration checklist
The GMC / NMC / HCPC / GPhC pathway for internationally-qualified staff.
For doctors
The UK doctor pathway and remote work with GeraClinic.
For nurses (NMC)
The full NMC Test of Competence pathway.
Important — please read
This is free, general guidance on preparing your own NHS job application — not careers, immigration or employment advice, and not a guarantee of any outcome. Gera Services Ltd is not a recruitment agency, does not place health workers, does not match you to specific NHS vacancies and never charges an applicant a fee. You apply to NHS employers directly, on your own account, through NHS Jobs.