Post by Deborah Udy Okusaga Akanne (@deborah_udy_okusaga)

You Said You Are A Team Player. The Panel Scored You A 1. Here Is Exactly Why.

Every NHS interview panel asks some version of this question.

Tell us about a time you worked effectively within a multidisciplinary team.

And every candidate — every single one — says they are a team player. They describe collaborative working. They talk about communicating with colleagues. They mention respecting other professionals' expertise.

And the panel scores them a 1 or a 2 out of 4.

Not because they are not team players. Because their answer described teamwork as a personality trait rather than evidencing it as a documented, outcome-producing, governance-aligned clinical behavior.

Here is the specific, verified truth about what NHS panels are actually assessing when they ask the MDT question — and it goes significantly deeper than most candidates ever realize.

The NHS MDT is not simply a group of professionals who work in the same building and occasionally share information about the same patient.

It is a formally structured clinical governance mechanism — underpinned by NICE guideline NG27 on Multidisciplinary Team Working, NHS England's Transforming Cancer Services guidance, and the NHS Long Term Plan's commitment to integrated, team-based care.

An effective NHS MDT has specific characteristics that the panel is scoring your answer against:

Shared decision-making with the patient at the center. Not decisions made about the patient by the team and communicated to them afterward.

Decisions made with the patient — where the patient's values, preferences, and priorities are explicitly part of the clinical conversation. The NHS England shared decision-making framework, embedded in the NHS Constitution and reinforced through the Mental Capacity Act 2005, requires that every MDT decision involving a patient is reached through a process that treats the patient as a partner — not a subject.

Clear role clarity and professional accountability. In an NHS MDT, every professional contributes within their defined scope — and the contribution is documented.

The physiotherapist's functional assessment, the pharmacist's medicines review, the occupational therapist's home assessment — these are not informal conversations. They are documented clinical contributions to a shared care record. The panel wants to hear that you understand your specific professional contribution to the MDT — not just that you attended meetings.

Escalation of disagreement through professional channels. This is the element almost no candidate includes — and it is the element that scores Outstanding.

In a well-functioning NHS MDT, professional disagreement is not avoided. It is surfaced, discussed, and resolved through the clinical governance framework.

A doctor who disagrees with a nursing assessment raises it professionally within the MDT. A physiotherapist who believes a patient is being discharged prematurely advocates for their clinical position using evidence.

The panel is assessing whether you have the professional courage and the governance awareness to disagree appropriately — not just to comply harmoniously.

Here is the answer structure that scores 4 out of 4 on the MDT competency:

In my role at [specific institution], I was part of an MDT managing [specific patient group]. My specific contribution was [named clinical function — assessment, medication review, rehabilitation plan, functional evaluation].

During one case, there was a difference of clinical opinion between [two professional perspectives] regarding [specific clinical decision]. Rather than allowing this to remain unresolved, I raised it formally within the MDT meeting, presented my clinical evidence using [specific assessment tool or guideline], and we reached a shared decision that incorporated both perspectives.

The patient was involved in this process — their priorities were presented by the key worker and they confirmed the agreed plan. The outcome was [specific, measurable result].

What this experience reinforced for me is that an effective MDT is not one where everyone agrees — it is one where disagreement is managed professionally in the patient's interest.

That answer evidences: professional contribution, shared decision-making, patient-centered practice, professional courage, clinical governance awareness, and outcome measurement. Six competencies. One answer.

📩 In my NHS interview preparation service, we build your MDT answer from your specific clinical career — naming your exact professional contribution, your specific MDT context, and your specific outcome evidence. DM me "NHS" to find out what this looks like for your profession and target band.

Post 3 lands at 11:00 AM — and it is the post I know will create the most silence in the room when people read it. It covers the research question.
The one where the panel is not asking about your clinical research — they are asking something about you personally.

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