UK ST3 Emergency Medicine and Paediatrics: 2026 dates, format and scoring
ST3 emergency medicine round 1 applications open in early November and close in early December on Oriel, alongside the ACCS round. Emergency medicine interviews run in January and February; paediatrics in March and April.
Updated 27 October 2026
- When to apply
- ST3 emergency medicine round 1 applications open in early November and close in early December on Oriel, alongside the ACCS round.
- ST3 and ST4 paediatrics applications open in late January and close in late February.
- When interviews run
- Emergency medicine interviews run in January and February; paediatrics in March and April.
- Offers follow about four to six weeks after interview.
- The format
- Emergency medicine: three stations of about ten minutes, online, with two assessors each. Suitability and commitment, a clinical scenario with communication, and an ethical scenario.
- Paediatrics: scenario stations covering clinical reasoning, communication with a parent played by an assessor, and professionalism.
- Who is on the panel
- Two assessors per station, consultants in the specialty.
- How it is scored
- Emergency medicine: four domains, with clinical reasoning weighted about twice communication within the clinical station.
- Paediatrics: each domain scored against a rubric, with the communication scenario scored on listening and adaptation.
- What to prepare
- The resus scenarios: shock, trauma, the septic child, the tiring asthmatic, the combative head injury.
- An honest answer on burnout and sustaining a career.
- For paediatrics, the parent conversations practised with someone staying in role.
- Ethical scenarios: the overdose patient who wants to leave, the fifteen year old, the overcrowded department, safeguarding.