A focused way through the topic
- Why the recruiting organisation's own values come first
- The six shared values in the NHS Constitution for England
- How to choose evidence with enough detail and tension
- How to structure an answer using STAR plus Link
- Six original practice questions and a strong-versus-generic comparison
On this page
Check the employer before choosing your examples
The NHS Constitution sets shared values for the NHS in England and explicitly allows individual organisations to develop and tailor them to local needs. A Trust may use different labels, combine themes or publish behavioural examples against which candidates are assessed.
Read the values page, job description and person specification together. Note the verbs: an organisation may describe how staff listen, include, improve, collaborate or take responsibility. Those behaviours are more useful for interview preparation than the value labels alone.
For roles outside England
The NHS Constitution referenced here applies to England. If you are applying in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, use the recruiting organisation's current national and local values framework rather than assuming the English wording applies unchanged.
The six NHS Constitution values in England
The Constitution describes six shared values. Learn their practical meaning, but do not turn the list into a script.
Working together for patients
Put patients first, involve people and communities, work across boundaries and speak up when things go wrong.
Respect and dignity
Treat people as individuals, take their views seriously and communicate honestly about what can and cannot be done.
Commitment to quality of care
Attend to safety, effectiveness and experience, welcome feedback and use it to improve care.
Compassion
Respond with humanity and kindness to distress and need, including the needs of patients, families, carers and colleagues.
Improving lives
Improve health, wellbeing and experience through professionalism, everyday practice, service improvement and innovation.
Everyone counts
Use resources fairly, recognise unequal needs and avoid leaving people excluded, discriminated against or behind.
Choose evidence that makes the value visible
A useful example contains a decision. It shows what you noticed, the options or constraints, what you did and why. An example with no difficulty often produces a generic answer because the value did not need to guide anything.
A person-centred decision
Adapted communication, involved a patient in a decision, preserved dignity or addressed an access barrier.
A collaborative decision
Resolved disagreement, clarified a plan, involved the right professions or supported a colleague while maintaining safety.
A responsibility decision
Raised a concern, acknowledged an error, escalated risk or helped the team learn from an incident.
A quality decision
Used data or feedback, challenged an unreliable process and checked whether the resulting change helped.
Do not use patient names, dates, locations or combinations of details that could identify someone. The panel needs to understand your behaviour, not the patient's identity.
Structure the evidence with STAR plus Link
The final Link is what stops a competency story feeling detached from the interview. It should be brief and specific to the post—not a repeated claim that you always follow every NHS value.
Six NHS values interview questions
- 01
Which of our values most closely reflects how you work?
Answer outline
Name the employer's value, define what it means in behaviour, give a specific example and connect the learning to the advertised post. Avoid claiming that one value is the only one that matters.
- 02
Tell us about a time you demonstrated compassion under pressure.
Answer outline
Choose a situation with a genuine constraint. Explain how you recognised the person's needs, adapted your communication or actions, maintained safety and dignity, and reflected on the outcome.
- 03
Describe a time you worked across professional boundaries for a patient.
Answer outline
Show how you involved relevant people, listened to different perspectives, clarified responsibilities and kept the patient's priorities central. State what you personally contributed.
- 04
Tell us about a time you spoke up when something was wrong.
Answer outline
Describe the concern and risk, how you raised it respectfully through an appropriate route, what you did if the first response was insufficient and what changed afterwards.
- 05
How have you made a service more inclusive?
Answer outline
Explain the barrier you noticed, whose perspective you sought, the practical adjustment, how you avoided assumptions and what evidence suggested access or experience improved.
- 06
How would you bring our values into this role?
Answer outline
Select two role-relevant behaviours, support each with prior evidence and name a practical way you would apply them in the team. Keep the answer tied to the job description.
Try question 2 or question 4 with feedback
Use a real example and check whether the value is visible in your actions, not just named in your opening sentence.
Evidenced answers versus generic answers
The value is demonstrated
- Uses the recruiting organisation's wording accurately
- Describes a real constraint or decision
- Makes the candidate's behaviour visible
- Includes the effect, feedback or learning
- Links the evidence to the advertised role
The value is asserted
- Lists values from memory
- Says compassion and teamwork are important
- Uses an example with no clear personal contribution
- Claims a perfect outcome without evidence
- Could be delivered unchanged at any organisation
Make the next answer more specific than the last
PrepMed keeps your answer editable, scores it against relevant domains and shows the next improvement to rehearse.
Sources and review
- Written by
- PrepMed editorial team
- Review method
- Checked against the official sources below; no individual clinical reviewer credential is claimed.
- Last reviewed
- 7 August 2026
- Sources
- Question provenance
- All practice questions and answer outlines on this page are original PrepMed material.