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.

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

And almost every candidate 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.

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

Here is what NHS panels are actually assessing when they ask the MDT question.

The NHS MDT is not simply a group of professionals who work in the same building and occasionally discuss the same patient. It is a formally structured clinical governance mechanism — underpinned by guidance on integrated, multidisciplinary team-based care within the NHS Long Term Plan, and reinforced across every professional regulatory framework from the NMC Code to GMC Good Medical Practice to HCPC Standards of Proficiency.

An effective NHS MDT has three specific characteristics the panel is scoring your answer against.

One. Shared decision-making with the patient at the centre. Not decisions made about the patient. Decisions made with the patient — where their values, preferences, and priorities are explicitly part of the clinical conversation.

Two. Clear role clarity and professional accountability. Every professional contributes within their defined scope — and that contribution is documented. The panel wants to hear that you understand your specific professional contribution to the MDT — not just that you attended the meeting.

Three. Escalation of professional disagreement through appropriate channels. This is the element almost no candidate includes. In a well-functioning NHS MDT, professional disagreement is not avoided. It is surfaced and resolved safely. The panel is assessing whether you have the professional courage to raise a concern appropriately — and the governance awareness to do it within the right framework.

The answer that scores a 4 does three things simultaneously: names your specific professional contribution, describes a moment of professional challenge or complexity and how it was handled, and states the patient outcome and any governance learning.

That is the difference between describing teamwork and evidencing it.

Comment "MDT" and I'll send you the full framework built for your specialty.

Post 4 at 2pm: I'm covering one of the most misunderstood areas in NHS applications — how the right-to-work and visa field on TRAC actually works.

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