Warwick (GEM) Medicine Interview

Why Warwick, and why now in your career?

Specifics about the four-year accelerated programme, the Selection Centre format, the campus, and how your previous experience has prepared you. Avoid generic "always wanted to be a doctor" framing.

What does your previous degree or career bring to medicine that a school leaver could not?

Concrete examples — research methods, project management, patient-facing experience, resilience. Avoid the unsupported "graduates are more mature" line.

A hospital trust can fund only one of two new services this year. How would you decide between them?

Structure the trade-off: need, evidence of benefit, cost, equity and who loses out. Say what extra information you would want and who you would involve before deciding.

A close family member asks you to write a prescription. What do you say?

GMC guidance is clear — avoid treating family members except in emergencies. Explain the boundary, suggest they see their own GP, be kind but firm.

A patient is frustrated that they have been bounced between specialties. Listen and respond.

Active listening first. Acknowledge frustration. Take ownership of what you can. Do not blame other teams or the system.

Pick a current ethical issue in UK healthcare and talk me through both sides of it.

Signpost your structure — the issue, two or three arguments, balanced counterpoints, your reasoned view. Clarity beats length.

Describe a time you changed your mind because of someone else's argument.

Honest example. Show intellectual humility, evidence-based thinking, and willingness to update views — important for evidence-based medicine.

Should NHS doctors be allowed to refuse to treat patients on conscience grounds?

Engage with conscientious objection (Abortion Act, end-of-life), the duty to refer onwards, and the limits of conscience clauses.

A four-year accelerated medical degree is intense. How will you cope with the workload?

Honest reflection on study habits, support networks, financial planning, and lessons from your previous degree.

A junior colleague has made a clinical error that did not harm the patient. Speak with them.

Open with curiosity, not blame. Focus on systems and learning. Reference duty of candour and reporting culture.

You are given results from a clinical trial showing modest benefit and significant cost. How would you advise NICE?

Engage with effect size, cost per QALY, patient population, equity. Be cautious about applying simple cost-benefit logic without nuance.

A patient declines to disclose their HIV status to a sexual partner. What do you do?

Try to persuade them first. If they refuse, GMC guidance allows breaching confidentiality to protect identifiable third parties from serious harm. Document carefully.

Tell me about a time you contributed to a team you were not in charge of.

Specific example. Show willingness to lead from any seat, support others, and put the team's outcome first.

Where do you see yourself ten years after graduating?

Realistic reflection on training pathway. Some uncertainty is fine. Show insight into the realities of foundation, specialty choice and CCT timelines.

What from your undergraduate research methodology will be useful in clinical practice?

Critical appraisal, statistics literacy, comfort with uncertainty, evidence-based reasoning. Specific examples.