Application Overview
Core Surgical Training is recruited nationally through Oriel by NHS England London and the South East, across England, Scotland and Wales, with Northern Ireland recruiting separately through NIMDTA.
Format and weightings below are the 2026 position. Nothing CST-specific has been published for 2027 — the national timelines page still says only that details of future rounds will be added once available.
Confirmed 2027 dates
- Applications open — 10am, Thursday 22 October 2026
- Applications close — 4pm, Thursday 19 November 2026
- National interview window — Monday 11 January to Friday 2 April 2027
- Initial offers — by 5pm, Tuesday 6 April 2027
These are the national Round 1 dates. CST's own sub-dates — the MSRA window, the evidence upload window and the interview dates — had not been published as of August 2026.
Self-assessment has gone
If you are looking for the Oriel self-assessment, it no longer exists. It was abolished and replaced by the live portfolio station, where a panel discusses your evidence with you instead. Anything you read describing a self-assessment score, or a percentage contribution from it, is out of date.
Be careful with deanery pages generally: many are years out of date. Some still describe in-person interviews at a national selection centre and a November advert with a December close, both long superseded.
Top Tips
- Work from the national pages, not your local deanery's — most deanery CST pages have not been updated in years.
- Diarise 22 October and 19 November 2026; the window is four weeks and does not move.
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