NHS core values for medicine and dentistry
What each value means, and how schools look for it
The NHS Constitution for England names six values: working together for patients, respect and dignity, commitment to quality of care, compassion, improving lives and everyone counts. Many medical and dental schools in England look for them through values-based recruitment, above all at interview. The UCAT Situational Judgement Test does not test them by name: it assesses integrity, perspective taking, team involvement, resilience and adaptability. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland use their own sets.
- NHS values
- Six, in the NHS Constitution
- Constitution last updated
- 17 August 2023
- UCAT 2026 SJT
- 69 questions in 26 minutes
- SJT Band 1 (UCAT 2026)
- 15% of 42,359 candidates
- Good medical practice
- In force since 30 January 2024
Photo: Chanpeter · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Photo: Chemical Engineer / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Tadeusz Hare · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Rodhullandemu / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
What are the six NHS core values?
The six values come from the NHS Constitution for England. Here is what that document is, who it covers and how current it is.
The NHS Constitution for England is published by the Department of Health and Social Care. It sets out the principles, values, rights and responsibilities of the NHS in England. Patients, the public and staff helped develop its six values, which are meant to underpin everything the NHS does.
The six are: working together for patients, respect and dignity, commitment to quality of care, compassion, improving lives, and everyone counts. They cover how staff treat each other, not only patients. Respect and dignity includes staff, and compassion includes finding time for the people you work alongside.
They are not a script to recite. The Constitution says individual NHS organisations will build on the values and tailor them to local needs, so the trust where you did work experience may use different words for the same ideas.
| Published by | The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), on gov.uk |
|---|---|
| Covers | England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland develop their own health policies. |
| Current text | Updated 17 August 2023 |
| What it contains | Seven guiding principles, six values, and the rights, pledges and responsibilities of patients, the public and staff |
| Who must take account of it | By law: the Secretary of State, NHS bodies, private and voluntary providers of NHS services, and local authorities in their public health work |
| Review rules | Renewed every 10 years with the public, patients and staff involved; its handbook at least every 3 years |
| Companion document | The Handbook to the NHS Constitution, updated 24 January 2025, explains each value in more detail |
| Latest review | A 10-year review consultation ran from 30 April to 25 June 2024. The government closed the review on 3 March 2025 and plans a new consultation, timing not yet set. |
The six NHS values explained, one by one
Each card says, in our own words, what the Constitution and its handbook mean by the value, and what it looks like in the work of a doctor or dentist.
Working together for patients
Patients come first, and everyone involved in their care works together: staff, families, carers and services outside the NHS. The handbook says patients' interests come before an organisation's, even when that means admitting mistakes, and the Constitution says staff speak up when things go wrong. For a dentist, it can mean referring a patient on when a case is beyond your skills.
Respect and dignity
Every person, whether patient, relative or member of staff, is treated as an individual with their own priorities, needs and limits. You take what people say seriously and are honest about what you can and cannot do. The handbook links this value to candour: clear, open communication with patients, relatives and carers.
Commitment to quality of care
Getting the basics right every time: care that is safe, effective and a good experience for the patient. It also means welcoming feedback from patients, families, carers and staff and using it to improve. The handbook says quality should not be compromised.
Compassion
Responding with humanity and kindness to each person's pain, distress, anxiety or need, and looking for the small things that give comfort. The Constitution says staff do not wait to be asked. Compassion reaches colleagues too: it includes finding time for the people you work alongside.
Improving lives
Improving health, wellbeing and people's experience of the NHS. Excellence counts in the everyday things that make life better as much as in clinical practice and innovation. The handbook adds that it means helping people and communities take responsibility for living healthier lives, so prevention belongs here.
Everyone counts
Using resources for the benefit of the whole community, and making sure nobody is excluded, discriminated against or left behind. It accepts that some people need more help than others and that difficult decisions have to be made. Wasted resources, the Constitution says, are lost opportunities for others.
NHS values in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
The NHS Constitution covers England only. The other three nations publish their own values, and the ideas overlap heavily.
| Nation | Values | Where they come from |
|---|---|---|
| England | Working together for patients; respect and dignity; commitment to quality of care; compassion; improving lives; everyone counts | The NHS Constitution for England (DHSC), updated 17 August 2023 |
| Scotland | Care and compassion; dignity and respect; openness, honesty and responsibility; quality and teamwork | Everyone Matters: 2020 Health Workforce Vision (Scottish Government, 2013). NHS Scotland's current workforce policies still apply these four values. |
| Wales | Putting quality and safety above all else; integrating improvement into everyday working; focusing on prevention, health improvement and inequality; working in true partnerships; investing in our staff | The NHS Wales values and standards of behaviour framework, part of the governance framework for the NHS in Wales |
| Northern Ireland | Working together; excellence; openness and honesty; compassion | The Health and Social Care (HSC) values, which apply to all HSC staff whichever HSC organisation they work for |
Applying to a school in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland? Learn that nation's list as well as England's. You do not need every list word for word: notice the shared core of compassion, respect, honesty, teamwork and safe, high-quality care.
Two differences are worth knowing. Scotland and Northern Ireland name openness and honesty as values in their own right, while England places honesty inside respect and dignity. Wales puts quality and safety first and gives prevention and inequality a value of its own.
What is values-based recruitment?
Values-based recruitment is the national policy that links the NHS values to medical and dental school selection in England.
Values-based recruitment (VBR) means choosing students, trainees and staff partly on whether their values and behaviours match those of the NHS Constitution. It sits alongside the usual checks of aptitude and skills rather than replacing them.
Health Education England (HEE) ran a national VBR programme from April 2013 to March 2015, published a framework in 2014 and refreshed it in 2016. HEE credits the growing focus on values partly to the 2013 Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, which highlighted how much staff values and behaviours matter to safe, compassionate care. The Medical Schools Council sat on the stakeholder advisory group that helped shape the framework.
Schools apply the idea in their own ways. Leeds, for example, says values-based recruitment is carried out across its vocational programmes, and that its dentistry MMIs assess attributes in line with it.
What HEE's 2016 framework expects universities to do
Map local values to the NHS Constitution
Check that the university's own values line up with the six national ones.
Involve patients and the public
Patients or members of the public take part at some stage of selection.
Name the values publicly
Refer to the NHS Constitution values in marketing, on websites and in entry requirements.
Assess values face to face
Include an assessment of values in an individual structured interview. That can be an MMI, part of a selection centre, or paired with a screening test such as a situational judgement test (SJT).
Give feedback if asked
Offer feedback to unsuccessful candidates who request it.
Keep the values going after selection
Build the NHS Constitution into the curriculum, and into induction and appraisal.
How medical and dental schools assess the NHS values
Schools look for values at more than one stage. Here is what each stage does, then what named schools say on their own admissions pages.
UCAT Situational Judgement Test
A screening test you sit before applying. It scores your judgement in clinical and training scenarios and reports a band from 1 to 4. The next section explains what it does and does not measure.
Multiple mini interviews (MMIs)
A circuit of short stations, each with its own task and assessor. HEE's framework notes MMIs are widely used in medical school admissions and become more reliable with more stations. Values come up in ethical scenarios and in questions about your experiences.
Panel interviews
A conversation with a small panel rather than a circuit of stations. Expect open questions about your experiences. Sheffield, for example, interviews home applicants by MMI and international applicants by online panel.
Personal statement
Some schools do not score it but explore its topics at interview. Sheffield says personal statement topics are commonly explored in its MMIs. Liverpool looks in it for awareness of NHS Constitution values and reviews it during dentistry interviews.
Conduct on the day
Behaviour between stations can count. Sheffield says your conduct is assessed from the moment you arrive, so treat staff, students and other applicants the way the values describe.
After you start
Values do not stop at the offer. The GMC says medical students must show a high standard of behaviour at all times, on and off the course. Leeds asks its dental students to sign a code of professional conduct every year.
| School | Course | What its page says |
|---|---|---|
| Sheffield | Medicine (A100), 2027 entry | Its MMIs for home applicants run over the winter of 2026 to 2027 (check its page for the dates, which it gives in two places). It advises reading the NHS Constitution, NHS values and the GMC's guidance for medical students to prepare. |
| Hull York Medical School | Medicine, 2027 entry | Scores candidates across the MMI on areas that include their understanding of the values in the NHS Constitution. |
| Imperial College London | Medicine | Lists evidence of commitment to the values of the NHS Constitution among the criteria its MMI assessors may consider. |
| Leeds | Dentistry (BChD), 2027 entry | Holds MMIs online for 2027 entry. They assess attitudes, communication skills, empathy, analytic skills and ethical reasoning, in line with NHS Constitution values-based recruitment. |
| Liverpool | Dentistry (BDS, A200), 2027 entry | Looks in the personal statement for a caring attitude and awareness of the values in the NHS Constitution, and reviews the statement during interviews. |
| Birmingham | Dentistry (BDS) | Says its MMIs aim to select future dentists who embrace the values of healthcare, including respect, compassion, resilience and commitment to quality of care. |
Formats and wording change between cycles. Always read the current admissions page for each school on your UCAS form.
Does the UCAT SJT test the NHS values?
Not by name. This is what the UCAT Consortium says the Situational Judgement Test measures, how it is scored, and where the NHS values still help.
| What it measures | Your capacity to understand real-world situations and to identify the critical factors and appropriate behaviour in dealing with them |
|---|---|
| Questions and time | 69 questions in 26 minutes, after a 1 minute 30 second instruction section |
| Scenarios | Hypothetical scenarios in a clinical setting or in training for a medical or dental career, each with up to six questions. No medical knowledge is needed. |
| Question types | Rating: judge how appropriate or important an option is, on a four-point scale. Ranking: pick the most and least appropriate of three actions. |
| Marking | Full marks if your answer matches the correct one, partial marks if it is close. Most-and-least questions score nothing unless you choose both. |
| Result | A band from 1 (highest) to 4, reported separately from the 900 to 2700 total for the other three subtests. Band 1 means judgement similar to the panel of experts in most cases. |
| UCAT 2026 bands | Of 42,359 candidates (data to 24 September 2026): Band 1 15%, Band 2 40%, Band 3 34%, Band 4 11% |
Principles in the UCAT's own SJT tutorial
- Listen to and respect the concerns and opinions of colleagues, patients and families
- Work collaboratively and with respect
- Dishonest or misleading options are almost always inappropriate
- Set aside personal biases and beliefs
- Know your limits and when to seek help
- The patient's wellbeing and safety come first, and confidentiality is kept
Where the NHS values overlap
- Respect and dignity: take what others say seriously and be honest about what you can do
- Working together for patients: patients first, and speak up when things go wrong
- Commitment to quality of care: get the basics of safe care right, and learn from feedback
- Compassion: notice distress and respond with kindness
- Everyone counts: no discrimination, and fair use of shared resources
So the NHS values are useful background for the SJT, not its marking scheme. Learn the UCAT's own principles, practise with its official tutorial and question banks, and use the values as a final check: an option that is dishonest, unsafe or dismissive of someone is rarely right.
How the NHS values map onto Good medical practice and the GDC Standards
The NHS values describe a culture. The regulators' standards turn similar ideas into duties that doctors and dental professionals must meet, and serious failures can put their registration at risk.
Doctors follow the General Medical Council's Good medical practice, in force since 30 January 2024. Its four domains are knowledge, skills and development; patients, partnership and communication; colleagues, culture and safety; and trust and professionalism. Separate GMC guidance applies its principles and values to medical students.
The dental team follows the General Dental Council's Standards for the Dental Team, in force since 30 September 2013. Its nine principles run from putting patients' interests first to maintaining confidence in the profession. From 2 June to 31 August 2026, the GDC consulted on replacing them with a simpler Framework for Professionalism built on four principles. For now, the 2013 Standards still apply.
| NHS value | GMC Good medical practice (2024) | GDC Standards for the Dental Team (2013) |
|---|---|---|
| Working together for patients | Make the care of patients your first concern. Work with colleagues in the ways that best serve patients, and share information so care continues. | Principle 1: put patients' interests first. Principle 6: work with colleagues in patients' best interests. Principle 8: raise concerns if patients are at risk. |
| Respect and dignity | Respect every patient's dignity, privacy and right to choose whether to accept your advice. Treat colleagues with kindness, courtesy and respect. | Standard 1.2: treat every patient with dignity and respect at all times. Principle 3: obtain valid consent, explaining the relevant options and possible costs. |
| Commitment to quality of care | Provide a good standard of care within your competence, and keep your skills up to date. Act promptly if patient safety or dignity is at serious risk. | Principle 7: maintain, develop and work within your knowledge and skills. Standard 4.1: keep complete and accurate records. Principle 5: have an effective complaints procedure. |
| Compassion | Notice pain or distress and act to relieve it. Be compassionate to those close to a patient, and to colleagues who are struggling with their health or performance. | Standard 1.2 also asks you to treat patients with kindness and compassion and to manage their dental pain and anxiety appropriately. |
| Improving lives | Support patients to care for themselves and improve their health. Protect and promote the health of patients and the public. | Standard 1.4: a preventative approach that takes account of each patient's overall health. Standard 2.3: give patients the information they need to make informed decisions. |
| Everyone counts | Never unfairly discriminate. Prioritise patients by clinical need, and make good use of resources for patients and the wider population. | Standard 1.6: treat patients fairly, as individuals and without discrimination, including reasonable adjustments for disability. |
NHS values interview questions and SJT-style scenarios, with strong answers
One example per value, mixing MMI, panel and SJT-style formats for medicine and dentistry. The guidance describes what a strong answer shows. It is not a script to learn.
You are a medical student on a ward placement. A healthcare assistant tells you a patient has not eaten for two days because nobody has helped him with his meals. The nurse in charge is very busy. What do you do?
A strong answer puts the patient's basic care first and acts promptly, without blaming anyone. It gets someone who can help him eat to do so straight away, then tells the nurse in charge calmly and factually. It knows the limits of a student's role and who to go to if nothing changes.
- Shows: patients first, and speaking up when things go wrong
- Links to Good medical practice paragraph 75: act if a patient is not receiving basic care
- Avoids: doing nothing because you are only a student, or criticising staff in front of the patient
While you shadow at a dental practice, a 70-year-old patient says she does not want the treatment the dentist recommends to save a tooth. She would rather have it taken out. The dentist seems frustrated. How should the dentist respond?
A strong answer starts by finding out why: cost, fear, past experiences or what matters most to her. The dentist explains the relevant options and their costs clearly and checks she understands. If she is able to make the decision, the dentist respects it. Respecting a choice you would not make yourself is what this value asks.
- Shows: treating her as an individual and taking her views seriously
- Links to GDC Principle 3 (valid consent) and Principle 2 (communicating effectively)
- Avoids: pressuring her, or assuming an older patient cannot decide for herself
Priya, a second-year dental student, realises after clinic that she forgot to record a patient's new medication in the notes. Nobody else has noticed. How appropriate is it for Priya to tell her clinical supervisor straight away and correct the record?
Very appropriate. Accurate records are part of safe care, and owning the slip early lets it be fixed before it harms anyone. Options that hide the error or wait to see if anyone notices would be inappropriate: the UCAT's own tutorial says dishonest or misleading answers are almost always inappropriate.
- Shows: getting the basics of safe care right, and learning from mistakes
- Links to GDC Standard 4.1 (complete and accurate records) and both regulators' honesty duties
- Format note: in the real SJT you rate each option on a four-point scale
Tell us about a time you noticed someone was struggling and did something about it.
Pick one small, specific moment: a care home resident who was distressed, a younger pupil you mentored, a relative you helped care for. Say what you noticed, what you did without being asked, and what it taught you about how people feel when they are unwell or anxious. Spend most of the answer on that reflection.
- Shows: noticing distress and acting on it without waiting to be asked
- Avoids: a grand story with no detail, or casting yourself as the hero
- Works for dentistry too: the GDC expects dental professionals to manage patients' pain and anxiety
Should the NHS spend more of its budget on preventing illness, even if that means less money for treatment now? You have two minutes to discuss.
A strong answer weighs both sides. Prevention can improve many lives over years, and the handbook ties improving lives to helping people live more healthily. But people who are ill now need treatment. Give a concrete example, such as stopping smoking or advice on sugar and teeth, and reach a balanced, honest view.
- Shows: thinking about health beyond the patient in front of you
- Links to Everyone counts too: resources are limited, and waste costs others
- Avoids: a one-sided answer, or claiming certainty about outcomes nobody can know
You are volunteering on a hospital welcome desk. A man with limited English becomes upset because he cannot follow the directions to his appointment. People in the queue behind him are getting impatient. What do you do?
A strong answer stays calm, acknowledges his frustration and finds a way to help: slowing down, using simple words or a map, and asking staff about interpreting support. It gives him the same patience as anyone else, does not let the queue rush him away, and brings in a member of staff when needed.
- Shows: nobody left behind, and accepting that some people need more help
- Links to Good medical practice paragraph 32: meet patients' language and communication needs
- Avoids: sending him away to come back with someone who speaks English
How to show NHS values in your personal statement without naming them
Admissions tutors want evidence, not labels. The three UCAS questions give you three natural places to show values.
Since 2026 entry, the UCAS personal statement has been three questions, with at least 350 characters per answer and 4,000 characters in total. Nothing in the format asks for the NHS values, and naming them reads as box-ticking. Show them through what you did, noticed and learned.
HEE's framework judged personal statements weak evidence of values. Liverpool reviews the statement during its dentistry interviews, and Sheffield says the activities and values in statements are commonly explored in its MMIs. So every example needs a real story behind it that you can tell in detail.
| UCAS question | Values it can show | Showing, not telling |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Why do you want to study this course or subject? | Improving lives; commitment to quality of care | Describe a moment you saw a doctor or dentist explain a hard decision honestly, and why that made you want the job. |
| 2. How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject? | Commitment to quality of care; working together | Show how a group project or an extended project taught you to check your work, act on feedback and share credit. |
| 3. What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful? | Compassion; respect and dignity; everyone counts | Volunteering, caring for a relative or a part-time job: describe one person you helped, what you noticed and what you changed. |
Naming the value (weak)
- I am a very compassionate person and I always put patients first.
- Volunteering taught me that everyone counts.
- Shadowing showed me the importance of teamwork and respect.
Showing it (stronger)
- Each Saturday I sat with a resident who rarely had visitors. I learned when she wanted to talk and when she wanted quiet.
- At the food bank I helped a man complete a form he could not read, and saw how easily people slip through gaps.
- On the ward I watched a nurse stop a busy handover to check a detail she was unsure of, and the doctor thanked her.
Common mistakes applicants make with the NHS values
How to prepare for NHS values questions for 2027 and 2028 entry
What to do now depends on your year group. Dates for 2028 entry are not published yet, so later steps describe the usual pattern.
- Year 13, now
You have applied for 2027 entry
The UCAS deadline for most medicine and dentistry courses was 15 October 2026 at 18:00 UK time. Interviews follow over the winter, typically between late November 2026 and March 2027, with dates on each school's own page.
- Re-read your personal statement and prepare the story behind every example
- Practise one example per value out loud, then try a timed mock
- Year 12, now
Build real experiences
Look for steady, people-facing roles such as volunteering or caring, where you can see the values in action. Keep short notes on moments that taught you something, so your examples have real detail later.
- Summer 2027 (usual pattern)
Sit the UCAT
UCAT 2027 dates are not published yet. In 2026, testing ran from 13 July to 24 September, with results sent to universities in early November. Prepare for the SJT with the UCAT's own tutorial and question banks.
- Autumn 2027 (usual pattern)
Apply through UCAS for 2028 entry
The 2028 entry deadline is not published yet. For 2027 entry it was 15 October 2026. Write your three answers so that each example shows a value without naming it.
- Winter 2027 to 2028
Interviews for 2028 entry
Interview dates for 2028 entry are not published yet. Read each school's interview page for its format and what it says it assesses.
Your values checklist before any interview
- I can name the six NHS values and say in one sentence what each means
- I have one real example for each value, with a specific moment and a reflection
- I know the values of any other UK nation I am applying to
- I have read the duties in Good medical practice (medicine) or the GDC's nine principles (dentistry)
- I have practised SJT questions with the UCAT's official tutorial and question banks
- I have an honest answer ready about a mistake I made and what I changed
- I have done at least one timed mock interview with feedback
NHS core values: your questions answered
Where this guide's facts come from
Checked against these sources on 19 October 2026. Rules change between cycles, so confirm anything that decides your application on the official page for your entry year.
Practise showing the NHS values out loud
Knowing the six values is the easy part. A mock interview shows whether your examples prove them under time pressure, with feedback on what to change.