Candidates who have achieved a sufficiently high score at Stage 2 of the GPST Entry / Selection process will be invited to attend a selection assessment centre (so-called Stage 3 of the GPST entry selection process), which usually takes place end of February. At Stage 3 of the GPST entry selection process, the ratio of candidates is approximately 1.5 to 1.
On the day (you can attend on any day within the 2-week period set by the National Recruitment Office), you will need to undergo two different types of assessments:
This part of the Stage 3 assessment centre consists of 3 role plays: one with a patient, one with a relative and one with a colleague. Each role play lasts 10 minutes (this includes the time it takes to read the instructions), and the part of the opposite party is played by a professional actor.
The actor is not involved in the actual recruitment process but their feedback is taken into account by the examiners (for example, in relation to how the candidate came across to them as a patient or relative, or how they felt their emotions and other needs were addressed. Usually the actor will have some kind of agenda which is unknown to you at the start of the role play. For example, you may be facing a patient which has come to you for a specific problem but is also suffering from significant psychosocial issues. Or you may be facing someone who is unusually emotional or aggressive. It is therefore key that you prepare yourself for all sorts of scenarios.
Candidates are assessed with a marking scheme which mirrors the National Person Specification i.e. on the following criteria:
As such you should watch out for the following:
Empathy and sensitivity: Are you listening to the other party and showing that understand their perspective? Do you treat them with respect and understanding?
Communication skills: Is the tone and level of language appropriate for the patient and the situation? Is the content of your communication addressing the concerns and expectations of the patient?
Professional integrity: Do you own up to your mistakes? Do you ensure that do not let yourself be convinced to act unethically? Do you recognise your limitations?
Coping with pressure: Are you able to remain composed when placed in a stressful environment? Are you able to cope with aggression and other emotional situations? Do you know when to seek external advice?
Each of the above is marked on a scale from 0 to 3. Candidates who score 0 or 1 in any of the sections may be deemed unsuitable to enter General Practice.
The GPST Stage 3 prioritisation exercise consists of three parts:
Some of the tasks will be obvious emergencies which will need to be addressed promptly (e.g. a patient who has collapsed); others will be tasks which can obviously wait (e.g. you need to fill your expenses form); but most task fall inbetween and are of a certain importance though not necessarily extremely urgent (e.g. you hear a nurse shout at a patient).
Ranking vs. Justifying One overriding fundamental principle in the Stage 3 prioritisation exercise is that there are many correct answers and that the justification counts more than the ranking. In the example above, Option A looks important since the issue is important and the son has travelled a long distance, but it is not as urgent as the neutropenic patient in Option C. One could therefore prioritise C over A on the basis that Option C is an emergency and that Option A isn't. However one could also prioritise Option A by justifying it as follows: "Though the son can clearly wait longer than the patient in Option C, it would take me 5 seconds to ask a nurse or a junior colleague to tell the son that I am aware that he is there, that I am currently dealing with an emergency but will be with as soon as I can. This would enable me to manage the expectations of the son effectively whilst still dealing with the neutropenic patient as quickly as I can". By doing so, you are effectively signaling that you are not only thinking about patient safety but also the communication with the son and the management of his waiting.
Another fundamental principle is that you should not attempt to do all the tasks on your own. The text might give you clues about who is available to help you (e.g. nurse, junior colleague, secretary etc). Make sure that your explanations reflect the fact that you can delegate (whilst still taking some responsibility) and use the resources available to you effectively.
Reflecting The reflective part of the exercise consists of usually three questions taken from the following list:
This is an important part of the test and you should allow at least 5 minutes to answer as failure to answer those questions would penalise you severely.
