Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 · Latest published criteria
Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 self-assessment 2027: points calculator and scoring guide
Pick the option that fits your evidence at each step to see your score out of 59, and what you can still add before the deadline.
Applications close 4pm, Thu 19 Nov 2026
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Cardiothoracic ST1 points calculator
The Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 self-assessment has 16 domains in five sections, and the criteria state a “Maximum score available 59”. You score yourself on the Oriel form, a cut-off decides who uploads evidence (in 2026, anyone within 6 points below it was invited too), three assessors verify each portfolio, and “Your self-assessment score will be carried over to make up part of the total final score after the interview.” NHS England Wessex runs the national round: the Oriel window runs from Thursday 22 October (10am) to Thursday 19 November 2026 (4pm), and the 2027 criteria are still listed as coming soon, so the scoring below is the 2026 version.
Cardiothoracic ST1 self-assessment (scored on the Oriel application form, then verified against uploaded evidence) points at a glance
Your score is the total of the domain scores, out of a maximum of 59.
Published maximum: "Maximum score available 59" (2026 criteria). The 16 domain ranges add up to 59. The self-assessment decides who is invited to upload evidence. 2026 guide: "Those who score above a specified self-assessment cut-off score" plus "Any applicant who scores within 6 points below the specified cut-off score". Three assessors verify each portfolio. It then counts toward the final score: "Your self-assessment score will be carried over to make up part of the total final score after the interview." The weighting against the interview is not published.
| Domain | What scores (official wording) | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Academic Prizes & Awards (undergraduate) |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 6 points. Single best descriptor, 0-6. No 3- or 5-point descriptor is published. | 6 |
| Undergraduate Clinical Electives and Attachments |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 5 points. Single best descriptor, 0-5. No 4-point descriptor is published. | 5 |
| Higher Degrees |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 6 points. Single best descriptor, 0-6. Only awarded degrees score. | 6 |
| Post graduate qualifications (exams) |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 4 points. Single best descriptor, 0-4. No 3-point descriptor is published. | 4 |
| PG Cert & PG Dip |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 3 points. Single best descriptor, 0-3. | 3 |
| Research |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 4 points. Single best descriptor, 0-4. | 4 |
| Quality Improvement Project / Audit |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 3 points. Single best descriptor, 0-3. | 3 |
| Postgraduate Awards and Prizes |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 3 points. Single best descriptor, 0-3. | 3 |
| Operative Skills - Incisions |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 3 points. 0-3. The 1-point column reads "0-5 cases"; the criteria do not say whether zero cases scores 1 (see open_questions). | 3 |
| Operative Skills - Closures |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 3 points. 0-3. Same "0-5 cases" wording issue as Incisions. | 3 |
| Operative Skills - Whole procedures |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 4 points. 0-4. Same "0-5 cases" wording issue as Incisions. | 4 |
| Presentations |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 3 points. Single best descriptor, 0-3. Regional presentations have no descriptor. No specific evidence note is published for this domain. | 3 |
| Publications |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 4 points. Single best descriptor, 0-4. | 4 |
| Organisational and Leadership Skills |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 2 points. Single best descriptor, 0-2. Roles count only within 3 years of the closing date (2026 criteria: "Dec 2022 onwards"; the 2027 cut-off is not yet published). | 2 |
| Teaching |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 4 points. Single best descriptor, 0-4. Scores teaching you deliver, not teaching courses you attend. | 4 |
| Achievements outside of medicine |
Scores the single best option you can evidence, up to 2 points. Single best descriptor, 0-2. | 2 |
| Total | 59 |
Dates for this round
- Advert published source
- Applications open (Oriel) source
- Applications close (self-assessment score submitted on the form) source
- Interviews (day 1) source
- Interviews (day 2) source
What you can still add before 19 November 2026
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.
- Postgraduate Awards and Prizes. Awards can't be planned for, but there is one possible upside: if you win a prize at NMERC 2026 (14 Nov 2026) and have documentation of it from the organiser before applications close (4pm 19 Nov 2026), claim it as "National award(s) reflecting outstanding achievement in medicine or surgery" (2). "There needs to be clear documentation of any award from the awarding body." An NMERC prize is claimed at the national award tier. The self-assessment score is submitted on the form, and applications close at 4pm on 19 Nov 2026, so only a prize already documented by then can be claimed.
- Operative Skills - Incisions. Perform supervised cases as primary surgeon and log them. Keep a consolidated logbook with a breakdown of type and get consultant sign-off as accurate and dated before the evidence upload. Start by 10 October 2026. The self-assessment score is entered on the Oriel application form, which closes at 4pm on 19 Nov 2026 ("Applications close: 4:00pm 19/11/2026"). Evidence uploaded later only verifies what you "cited on your application form" (2026 applicant guide), so the activity must be done before you submit.
- Operative Skills - Closures. Perform supervised cases as primary surgeon and log them. Keep a consolidated logbook with a breakdown of type and get consultant sign-off as accurate and dated before the evidence upload. Start by 10 October 2026. The self-assessment score is entered on the Oriel application form, which closes at 4pm on 19 Nov 2026 ("Applications close: 4:00pm 19/11/2026"). Evidence uploaded later only verifies what you "cited on your application form" (2026 applicant guide), so the activity must be done before you submit.
- Operative Skills - Whole procedures. Perform supervised cases as primary surgeon and log them. Keep a consolidated logbook with a breakdown of type and get consultant sign-off as accurate and dated before the evidence upload. Start by 10 October 2026. The self-assessment score is entered on the Oriel application form, which closes at 4pm on 19 Nov 2026 ("Applications close: 4:00pm 19/11/2026"). Evidence uploaded later only verifies what you "cited on your application form" (2026 applicant guide), so the activity must be done before you submit.
- Presentations. Submit an abstract to a national meeting held before 19 Nov 2026 and deliver it yourself. NMERC 2026: free abstract submission at nmerc.org/submit, decisions within 5 days, presented online on Sat 14 Nov 2026, evidence letter and abstract book issued by 16 Nov 2026 16:00. Gain from 0: oral +2, poster +1. The oral descriptor requires delivery ("Personally delivered"), and the score is entered on the application form that closes at 4pm 19 Nov 2026, so the talk must be given before then. 14 Nov 2026 is 5 days before close.
- Organisational and Leadership Skills. Take an official, documented role on a local or regional committee, project or charity. You need a letter from that body stating your role. NMERC organising roles are not open this round: helping organise NMERC could count from next year's round, and if you're keen to help organise it, contact us. Start by 10 October 2026. The self-assessment score is entered on the Oriel application form, which closes at 4pm on 19 Nov 2026 ("Applications close: 4:00pm 19/11/2026"). Evidence uploaded later only verifies what you "cited on your application form" (2026 applicant guide), so the activity must be done before you submit. No minimum duration is published for the 1-point role.
- Teaching. Join the faculty of a course that has a published programme and collects formal participant feedback (2 points). Erudical is always looking for teachers for its Teach the Teacher course: contact us if you'd like to teach on it. A role only scores once it is completed by the time you upload evidence. Regular monthly teaching needs 6 months, so it is too late to start for 19 Nov 2026. Start by 10 October 2026. The self-assessment score is entered on the Oriel application form, which closes at 4pm on 19 Nov 2026 ("Applications close: 4:00pm 19/11/2026"). Evidence uploaded later only verifies what you "cited on your application form" (2026 applicant guide), so the activity must be done before you submit. The domain also says "Point will only be awarded for roles completed by the time of uploading of evidence for verification". The domain-wide note asks for an HR-signed contract, which a faculty role may not have; the panel decides.
Evidence traps
- A teach-the-teacher course scores nothing. The Teaching domain scores only teaching you deliver; the only teaching qualification that scores is an awarded PG Cert or PG Dip in Education (1 point for 1-2 PG Certs).
1 or 2 postgraduate certificate(s) awarded following part or full-time supervised study relevant to research or service delivery in Cardiothoracic Surgery. (Include PG Cert in Education)
source - Presenting your research can cost you the research point. The 1-point 'substantive role' only counts for work not yet presented or published. Present a different project (e.g. your audit) if you want both.
Substantive role in a completed research project (Not recognised elsewhere in application i.e. not yet presented or published)
source - Off PubMed means zero. Abstracts and letters score nothing, and first-author case reports don't count toward the first-author descriptors.
If a publication is not retrievable on PubMed it will not score.
source - One PDF per domain. In 2026, applicants who uploaded several PDFs for a domain were not scored at all.
For each domain the entire evidence for that domain must be uploaded as a single PDF. Applications with multiple PDFs uploaded for each domain will not be scored and excluded from the application process.
source
Sources
- Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 National Recruitment (NHS England Wessex), 2027 round; page modified 2026-10-08 (article:modified_time)
- 2026 National Selection ST1 Cardiothoracic Surgery Self Assessment Scores and Descriptors (PDF, 8 pages), 2026 criteria; PDF created 13 Oct 2025
- Guidance for Applicants to Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 Clinical Training programmes in 2026 (PDF, 6 pages), 2026 round; PDF created 13 Oct 2025 (2027 guide 'coming soon')
- Wayback capture of the Wessex page, 15 Dec 2025 (links to the 2026 criteria and applicant guide), 2025-12-15 capture
- Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 person specification 2027 (Medical Hub), 2027
- 2025 competition ratios (Medical Hub), 2025 Round 1
Points still within reach before 4pm on 19 November
Your score is fixed by what you put on the application form, and later evidence only confirms what you “cited on your application form”, so every addition has to be complete by 4pm on 19 November 2026. The largest single step is in Presentations: a national poster lifts you from 0 to 1, and an oral you deliver yourself from the podium takes you to 2, which NMERC on 14 November makes possible if you send an abstract at nmerc.org/submit. Ten of the 59 points sit in the three operative domains, so every opening, closure or whole procedure you do as primary surgeon and log with consultant sign-off can count: a sixth opening or closure moves that domain from 1 to 2, and an eleventh whole procedure moves Whole procedures from 2 to 3. An official, documented role on a local or regional committee, project or charity is worth 1 in Leadership if you have nothing there. Joining the faculty of a course with “a published programme AND formal participant feedback” is the one teaching gain still possible, worth 2, although the Teaching domain asks for an HR-signed contract as evidence and the panel decides whether a faculty role without one is enough. The same domain says “Point will only be awarded for roles completed by the time of uploading of evidence for verification”, so a role only counts once it’s complete. Regular monthly teaching needs six months, so it’s too late to start for this round. If you’d like to teach on our Teach the Teacher course, we’re always looking for teachers, and helping to organise NMERC could count from next year’s round if you’re keen to help. NMERC and Erudical roles may qualify. See the NMERC and Erudical websites and contact us for details.
Before you claim: three rules that change the total
The 1-point research descriptor only covers work that is “Not recognised elsewhere in application i.e. not yet presented or published”, so presenting your only completed research project moves the point rather than adding one. Publications are checked on PubMed, and “If a publication is not retrievable on PubMed it will not score.” In the 2026 round, evidence had to go up as a single PDF per domain, and “Applications with multiple PDFs uploaded for each domain will not be scored and excluded from the application process.”
Worked example: an FY2 on 11 of 59
This hypothetical FY2 won one first prize at medical school and did a three-week cardiothoracic attachment at their own medical school’s centre. They have MRCS Part A, a substantive role in a completed research project that hasn’t been presented or published, and they led one registered audit through audit and re-audit. Their signed logbook shows 4 sternotomy openings, 5 closures and 3 saphenous vein harvests as primary surgeon. They’ve given departmental presentations, are co-author on one PubMed paper, act as rota master and have taught medical students monthly for 8 months. On the 2026 descriptors:
- Academic prizes: one first prize, 1.
- Electives and attachments: one own-institution attachment of more than 2 weeks, 1.
- Higher degrees: none, 0.
- Postgraduate exams: MRCS Part A, 2.
- PG Cert and PG Dip: none, 0.
- Research: substantive role in a completed, unpresented project, 1.
- QI and audit: led one registered cycle with re-audit, 1.
- Postgraduate awards: none, 0.
- Incisions, closures and whole procedures: 0 to 5 cases in each, 1 each, so 3.
- Presentations: departmental only, 0.
- Publications: co-author on one PubMed paper, 1.
- Leadership: rota master, 0.
- Teaching: monthly for 8 months, 1.
- Achievements outside medicine: none, 0.
That’s 11. A teach the teacher course would add nothing. An NMERC oral of the audit, delivered by this doctor on 14 November, takes Presentations from 0 to 2, so the total becomes 13, a gain of 2; a poster instead would make it 12. The audit point stays, because the QI descriptor already expects a led project to be presented. Watch the trap here: if they presented the research project instead, the research point would no longer apply, because that work would then be “presented”, and the net gain would fall to 1.
The calculator scores each of the 16 domains on the 2026 descriptors, gives your total out of 59 and shows what an NMERC talk or a few more logged cases would add. We’ll show your result and email you a copy.
Go to the Cardiothoracic ST1 calculator at the top of this page
If you’d like all 16 domains on a printable sheet, with a note when the 2027 criteria appear, we can email it to you.
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Does a teach the teacher course count for Cardiothoracic ST1?
No, a teach the teacher course isn’t accepted anywhere in the Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 self-assessment. The Teaching domain only scores teaching you deliver, from “Evidence of regular teaching commitment to clinical professionals” at 1 point up to a contracted teaching post at 3 or 4, and none of its descriptors covers a course you attend. The only route for a teaching qualification is a university award in the PG Cert and PG Dip domain, where “1 or 2 postgraduate certificate(s) awarded following part or full-time supervised study relevant to research or service delivery in Cardiothoracic Surgery. (Include PG Cert in Education)” scores 1. A Master in Education counts under Higher Degrees at 2, the same as any degree not directly related to cardiothoracic surgery. A CPD course with its own certificate is neither, so it scores 0. You can see how other specialties treat teaching courses in our specialty-by-specialty teaching points table.
What an NMERC talk or prize could add
NMERC takes place online on Saturday 14 November 2026, the Saturday before the Wessex deadline, and presenters receive their evidence letter and the abstract book by 16 November. Any doctor or medical student can send an abstract at nmerc.org/submit, and presenting costs nothing. The Presentations domain scores “Poster presentations at national or international meetings” at 1 and “Personally delivered 1 to 2 oral presentation(s) as the podium presenter at a national or international society involving a major personal commitment” at 2, so if you’re at 0 the gain is 1 for a poster or 2 for an oral you deliver yourself. Present your audit or another project rather than your only unpresented research, or you’ll trade the research point for the presentation. There’s also a possible extra that can’t be planned: a prize won at NMERC, documented by the organiser before 4pm on 19 November, would be claimed under Postgraduate Awards and Prizes as “National award(s) reflecting outstanding achievement in medicine or surgery”, which scores 2, and “There needs to be clear documentation of any award from the awarding body.” More about the meeting is on the NMERC page.
Cardiothoracic ST1 scoring questions
How is the Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1 self-assessment scored?
You score yourself across 16 domains on Oriel, out of a published maximum of 59. In 2026, applicants above a cut-off, and anyone within 6 points below it, then uploaded evidence, and a panel of three assessors (training programme directors, SAC members and consultants) verified it. The verified score carries into your final score after interview, although its weighting isn’t published. Interviews are on 22 and 23 February 2027.
What is a national poster or oral worth for Cardiothoracic ST1?
A national or international poster scores 1. One or two orals you personally delivered as podium presenter at a national or international society score 2, and three or more distinct orals score 3. Departmental talks score 0 and there’s no regional descriptor. The talk has to be given before you submit, which means before 4pm on 19 November 2026.
Do operative cases count for an ST1 application?
Yes, and they carry 10 of the 59 points. Openings and closures of a laparotomy, thoracotomy or sternotomy as primary surgeon score 1 for up to 5 cases, 2 for 6 to 10 and 3 for 11 or more. Whole procedures as primary surgeon, such as an appendicectomy or saphenous vein harvest, go up to 4 for 16 or more. Every case must be in a consolidated logbook broken down by type and signed and dated by a consultant.
How competitive is Cardiothoracic Surgery ST1?
In 2025 there were 737 applications for 10 posts, a competition ratio of 73.70, according to the NHS England Medical Hub.

