Ireland · RCPI HST Rehabilitation Medicine · 2027 intake criteria

RCPI HST Rehabilitation Medicine: points estimator and scoring guide

RCPI 2027 intake shortlisting and interview criteria (Entry Guidance page) Last checked

Rate yourself on each of the five rows RCPI scores to estimate your score out of 20, and see what you can still add before the next window.

Next applications expected October 2027

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RCPI Rehabilitation Medicine HST points estimator

Answer one question for each scored domain. We add up your points with the published rules shown on each step, then show what you could still add before the deadline, with dates. It takes about two minutes.

We'll show your result and email you a copy.

When are you applying?

We use this to date your plan. Applying this round, it works back from the deadline. Applying next year, you get the long-run version instead.

Your score is the total of the domain scores, out of a maximum of 20.

Maximum 5 pointsProfessional Qualifications/Education/Achievements

Undergraduate performance, teaching awards, higher degrees. Professional and Extracurricular achievements

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 5 points. Pick the highest option you can evidence.

Undergraduate performance, teaching awards, higher degrees, and professional and extracurricular achievements.

Watch out. Extracurricular achievements and teaching awards both score here.

Caps. Category maximum 5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

Maximum 5 pointsClinical Practice

Adequate exposure and experience in speciality such as neurology/palliative care/neurology/stroke/psychiatry/trauma/medicine for elderly/primary care

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 5 points. Pick the highest option you can evidence.

Exposure to related specialties: neurology, palliative care, stroke, psychiatry, trauma, medicine for the elderly or primary care.

Watch out. Rehab names a wide list of relevant specialties. Map each of your posts to one of them.

Caps. Category maximum 5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

Maximum 5 pointsInterest/Motivation in Rehabilitation and Leadership & Management Experience

Candidate demonstrates that they have held a leadership or management role eg. Lead NCHD, hospital committee membership, organising membership examinations, audit or quality improvement programmes. Candidate demonstrates interpersonal skills and experience of working in teams, ability to self-direct learning.

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 5 points. Pick the highest option you can evidence.

A leadership or management role, teamwork, interpersonal skills and the ability to self-direct learning, plus interest in rehabilitation.

Watch out. Interest in rehab and leadership share one 5-mark row. Show both.

Caps. Category maximum 5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

Maximum 2.5 pointsPublication & Audit Experience

Publications, specialty publications, presentations, posters, audit, quality improvement programmes

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 2.5 points. Pick the highest option you can evidence.

Publications, presentations, posters, audit and QI.

Watch out. All academic output shares 2.5 marks, the same as teaching.

Caps. Category maximum 2.5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

Maximum 2.5 pointsTeaching Experience

Candidate demonstrates experience with teaching or higher qualification in teaching

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 2.5 points. Pick the highest option you can evidence.

Teaching experience, or a higher qualification in teaching.

Watch out. A course alone isn’t a higher qualification, so teaching experience carries most applicants.

Caps. Category maximum 2.5 of 20. No points per item are published.

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Where these numbers come from

  • 5 domains, worded as in the official guide
  • 2 official sources, each dated
Method and sources

Your score adds up the option you pick in each domain, using the published rules shown on each step. "Could still add" uses only steps the guide allows before the deadline. No competition figures are shown for Irish HST. Last checked 30 October 2026.

  1. RCPI HST Entry Guidance and Advice: Rehabilitation Medicine Shortlisting and Interview Criteria. 2027 HST intake. The page says “Applications for our 2027 Higher Specialist Training (HST) programmes are now closed.” The criteria are HTML tables in the “HST Shortlisting and Interview Criteria & Specialty Entry Requirements” section, not a PDF.
  2. RCPI HST Application Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions. 2027 intake (MRCPI Clinical by 31st December 2026; no documents accepted after the close)

RCPI scores Rehabilitation Medicine shortlisting out of 20: qualifications 5, clinical practice 5, interest in rehabilitation with leadership and management 5, publication and audit 2.5, and teaching 2.5. RCPI publishes only the maximum for each row, so the panel decides each mark. The calculator at the top of this page is a self-estimate: you rate yourself against each row and it adds up your own estimate, not RCPI’s score. Applications for the 2027 intake closed at 5pm on 29 October 2026, and in-person interviews are on 19 February 2027, where suitability alone is worth 40 of 100.

Where Teach the Teacher counts for Rehabilitation Medicine

The teaching row reads “Candidate demonstrates experience with teaching or higher qualification in teaching”, worth 2.5 of 20, the same as all your publications and audit together. We claim Teach the Teacher there, and the panel decides. Be clear about what it is: a live online day (09:00 to 17:00, “6 hours of live teaching with an expert”) and a self-paced course of over 12 hours in 20 modules, each with a certificate. That isn’t a “higher qualification in teaching”, a phrase that most naturally means a postgraduate certificate or above, so the course supports the row as evidence that you are developing as a teacher. Upload the certificates with a dated log of the teaching you’ve done; rehab is multidisciplinary, so teaching therapists and nurses can count as experience.

Teaching awards score under qualifications instead. The 2027 window has closed, so new evidence counts towards the next intake.

Rules on the Rehabilitation Medicine form that change a score

Clinical practice names a wide set of relevant specialties: “Adequate exposure and experience in speciality such as neurology/palliative care/neurology/stroke/psychiatry/trauma/medicine for elderly/primary care”. Map each of your posts to one of them. The third row combines interest in rehab with leadership and asks for “interpersonal skills and experience of working in teams, ability to self-direct learning”, so show both a role and your motivation. Academic output is only 2.5 marks, but the interview is where rehab is decided: knowledge and experience of the specialty is 30 and suitability 40. Nothing can be added after the close.

How the Rehabilitation Medicine interview is scored

The interview is scored separately, out of 100, in person on 19 February 2027 for this intake:

  • CV: 20
  • Research and Audit: 10
  • Knowledge and Experience of Specialty: 30
  • Suitability: 40

Places are allocated “taking into account rank at interview and available places”.

RCPI Rehabilitation Medicine HST HST Shortlisting Criteria (RCPI Entry Guidance and Advice) points at a glance

RCPI 2027 intake shortlisting and interview criteria (Entry Guidance page) Last checked

Your score is the total of the domain scores, out of a maximum of 20.

Out of 20: qualifications 5, clinical practice 5, interest/motivation and leadership & management 5, publication and audit 2.5, teaching 2.5. Only category maxima are published. Interview (separate, out of 100): CV 20; Research and Audit 10; Knowledge and Experience of Specialty 30; Suitability 40. “Posts are allocated by the NSD(s) taking into account rank at interview and available places.” Self-estimate (owner ruling 30 Oct 2026): RCPI publishes only the maximum for each row, so the calculator asks you to rate yourself on each row (none, some, good, strong) and adds up your own estimate. These steps are ours, not RCPI's; the panel scores the real marks.

RCPI Rehabilitation Medicine HST: every domain, what scores and the maximum
DomainWhat scores (official wording)Max
Professional Qualifications/Education/Achievements
  • 0 points None yet
  • 1.5 points Some (about a third of the marks)
  • 3.5 points Good (about two thirds)
  • 5 points Strong (full marks for this row)

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 5 points.

Category maximum 5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

5
Clinical Practice
  • 0 points None yet
  • 1.5 points Some (about a third of the marks)
  • 3.5 points Good (about two thirds)
  • 5 points Strong (full marks for this row)

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 5 points.

Category maximum 5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

5
Interest/Motivation in Rehabilitation and Leadership & Management Experience
  • 0 points None yet
  • 1.5 points Some (about a third of the marks)
  • 3.5 points Good (about two thirds)
  • 5 points Strong (full marks for this row)

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 5 points.

Category maximum 5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

5
Publication & Audit Experience
  • 0 points None yet
  • 1 point Some (about a third of the marks)
  • 1.5 points Good (about two thirds)
  • 2.5 points Strong (full marks for this row)

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 2.5 points.

Category maximum 2.5. RCPI publishes only the category, the description and the maximum; how marks are split inside it isn’t published.

2.5
Teaching Experience
  • 0 points None yet
  • 1 point Some (about a third of the marks)
  • 1.5 points Good (about two thirds)
  • 2.5 points Strong (full marks for this row)

Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 2.5 points.

Category maximum 2.5 of 20. No points per item are published.

2.5
Total20

Dates for this round

  • Applications opened source
  • This round closed 29 Oct 2026 (2027 intake); nothing can be added to those applications source 1 source 2
  • MRCPI Clinical (relevant to the specialty) passed by source
  • Interview (in person) source
  • Next applications open (2028 intake), expected early October 2027 expected source
  • Next applications close (2028 intake), expected late October 2027: what you claim must be done by then expected source

What you can still add before 29 October 2027

What each of these adds is the difference between the option you would reach and the one you already hold, so it can be nothing if you hold that option already. The calculator works out the gain from your own answers.

  • Teaching Experience. For the next intake (window expected October 2027): complete the Erudical Teach the Teacher course (live day plus self-paced) and keep both certificates, and keep a dated log of teaching you deliver, with feedback where you can get it. Gets you to: Some (about a third of the marks).

Evidence traps

  • Suitability is 40 of the 100 interview marks, and knowledge of the specialty another 30. The interview rewards understanding rehabilitation far more than a long CV. Knowledge and Experience of Specialty | 30 / Suitability | 40 source
  • Interest in rehabilitation and leadership share one 5-mark row, which also names teamwork and self-directed learning. Candidate demonstrates that they have held a leadership or management role eg. Lead NCHD, hospital committee membership, organising membership examinations, audit or quality improvement programmes. Candidate demonstrates interpersonal skills and experience of working in teams, ability to self-direct learning. source
  • Teaching is 2.5 of 20. The row accepts experience or a “higher qualification in teaching”; a course alone isn’t the second. Candidate demonstrates experience with teaching or higher qualification in teaching source
  • Everything has to be uploaded with the application. A paper accepted, a talk given or a course finished after the window closes can’t be added later. No, the Admissions Team is not in a position to accept any documents or updates to applications following the close of applications. source
  • The shortlisting score gets you an interview. Places are then given out on interview rank, so prepare for the interview criteria as seriously as the CV. Posts are allocated by the NSD(s) taking into account rank at interview and available places. source

Sources

For every category, the interview marks and the dates on one printable page, add your email and we’ll send you the PDF.

Email me the printable version

We'll email you the PDF in the next few minutes, plus a few RCPI Rehabilitation Medicine HST emails until applications close. Unsubscribe any time.

Rehabilitation Medicine HST questions, answered

How many points is teaching worth for RCPI HST Rehabilitation Medicine?

Teaching Experience is 2.5 of the 20 shortlisting marks: “Candidate demonstrates experience with teaching or higher qualification in teaching”. The interview has no separate teaching category.

Does a teach the teacher course count for Rehabilitation Medicine HST in Ireland?

We claim it in the teaching row, and the panel decides. A course isn’t a “higher qualification in teaching”, so pair it with teaching you have delivered.

What clinical experience counts for Rehabilitation Medicine HST?

RCPI lists “neurology/palliative care/neurology/stroke/psychiatry/trauma/medicine for elderly/primary care” as examples of relevant specialty exposure, scored in a 5-mark Clinical Practice row.

What is the RCPI HST Rehabilitation Medicine interview scored on?

Out of 100: CV 20, Research and Audit 10, Knowledge and Experience of Specialty 30, and Suitability 40. For the 2027 intake it is in person on 19 February 2027.

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