✂️General Surgery 2025/26

Verified 9 October 2026

At a glance

Competition ratio

5.2 : 1

834 apps·161 posts

High

Source: NHS England 2025 ↗

Entry point

ST3

Training length

6 years

ST3 to ST8

Check out the free Pay Calculator to see how much you'd earn at each grade ↗

Your training journey

Step 1

Medical School

5-6 yrs

Step 2

Foundation Training

2 yrs

Step 3

CST

Current

General Surgery

6 years

ST3-ST8

Step 5

CCT

Download the curriculum

Hear from registrars and consultants

Short videos from people already in General Surgery are coming to this page. If you are one of them, record one.

Application process

New for 2027

In 2027, UK graduates and others in the priority group are offered interviews and training posts first. Read more here.

Key dates for August 2026 entry (Round 2)

National recruitment covering England, NI, Scotland and Wales.

Applications

Advert published

By 5pm Wednesday 19 November 2025

Applications open

At 10am Thursday 20 November 2025

Applications close

At 4pm Thursday 11 December 2025

Shortlisting & Evidence

Evidence upload window

Tuesday 16 December 2025 to Monday 12 January 2026 (via Qpercom Evidence Portal)

Shortlisting scoring

Monday 26 to Tuesday 27 January 2026

Shortlisting results released

Thursday 12 February 2026

Offers

Appeal window

Thursday 12 to Monday 16 February 2026 (72 hours)

Interviews

Interview invitations

Tuesday 10 March 2026

Offers

Preferences open

Thursday 19 March 2026

Interviews

Thursday 26 and Friday 27 March 2026 (online via Qpercom Recruit)

Offers

Preferences close

Thursday 2 April 2026

Initial offers released

By 5pm Tuesday 14 April 2026

Hold deadline

At 1pm Wednesday 22 April 2026

Upgrade deadline

At 4pm Thursday 23 April 2026

Source: NHS England 2026 ↗

Top-rated trusts for General Surgery, as rated by doctors

Get ready for your General Surgery interview

We're starting right now with IMT for The Schema, but depending on which specialties get more waiting list sign ups, resource development will be focused more towards that.