A career in the medical specialty of allergy offers real opportunities for either the clinically or academically inclined.
For the practical and pragmatic there is plenty of scope for clinical innovation; for those interested in the big questions, the UK has a strong pedigree in allergy research, whether clinical, epidemiological or basic science.
Allergy trainee characteristics
Allergy will particularly suit trainees who:
-
want to offer holistic care to patients with chronic disease
-
like working in multidisciplinary teams and collaborative working with other specialities
-
love the challenge of a tricky or unusual diagnosis
-
are driven to improve patient care either locally or nationally
-
wish to pursue basic, epidemiological or clinical research
-
want a healthy work-life balance.
Working in allergy
There has been a huge increase in allergic disease over the last three decades.
While much allergic disease can be dealt with in primary care, some requires specialist input; the remit of the allergist is varied and includes severe asthma, crippling hay fever, life threatening food and drug allergy, spontaneous angioedema and urticarial.
The allergist focuses on identifying the underlying cause of these - identifying the allergen – as much as the symptomatic treatment.
Most importantly, allergists improve patients' quality of life. From the management of hayfever to dealing with frightening and life-threatening conditions such as anaphylaxis, allergists provide care that empowers patients and lets them get on with their lives.
Allergist working
Most clinical care in allergy is outpatient-based and within office hours. Allergy care is patient-focused and delivered by a multidisciplinary team.
Allergists share patients with respiratory physicians, dermatologists, ENT surgeons, gastroenterologists, immunologists, occupational health physicians and paediatricians, and there are plenty of opportunities for collaborative working. Most children with allergic disease are looked after by paediatricians.
Allergy is a small speciality and offers plenty of opportunities to be involved in training and national committees.
Training & career development
Training is usually based at a single centre (usually a teaching hospital) though travel elsewhere may be required for the more specialised aspects of the curriculum. There are currently seven training centres nationally.
National training days are arranged by the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Association of Clinical Pathologists, and allow trainees to network nationally.
There are ample opportunities and support for research and higher degrees, but these are not essential for career progression.
There has been a steady increase in consultant allergist numbers over the last decade.
Looking ahead
MRCP and a good knowledge of general medicine are essential for allergy.
Some prior experience in allergy is desirable, and can usually be obtained by contacting your local allergy service and sitting in on clinics; most doctors gain little or no experience of the speciality during their training and early years (though will likely have seen plenty of patients with allergic disease).
You can also enter allergy through the academic route (ACF and ACL).
Medical Care
Find out more about allergy and the services delivered by the specialty on Medical Care – the RCP’s online guide to service design.
Case study
Dr Joanna Lukawska has kindly provided the following case study about her career in allergy.
http://www.medicalcareers.nhs.uk/specialty_pages/medicine/allergy/case-study-1.aspx
Further information
General / application queries
For general queries relating to areas such as eligibility criteria, making an application or the Oriel system, please contact the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office.
Queries regarding the progress of a submitted application should be directed to the lead recruiter for this specialty:
| London and KSS (LaKSS) Recruitment | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST3/general queries | General enquiries - Enquiry Form | |||||
| Fitness to practice/Disability/GIS queries - confidential | https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/home#4 | |||||
| Website | http://www.lpmde.ac.uk/laserecruitment/ | |||||
Eligibility
This specialty uses the standard ST3 eligibility criteria, and does not accept candidates from any alternative training routes.
Please visit the am I eligible? section of this website for further information.
Joint allergy-immunology interview
The specialties of allergy and immunology - both of which will have ST3 recruitment managed centrally by London and Kent, Surrey & Sussex - hold a joint interview process.
Regardless of whether a candidate applies to the specialty of allergy or to immunology (or to both), they will sit one single joint interview; the assessment from which can be used to ascertain their suitability and readiness for progression to a post in allergy and/or immunology.
Interview Content
The interview will consist of three questions which range between 8-10 minutes in length. You will be marked on these three questions and your communication skills, giving four scored areas in total. You will be scored by two interviewers on each question.
Including time for questioning and scenario reading, the interview will be approximately 30 minutes.
Please note that this is subject to change and will be confirmed by the date of interview.
Prior to this question you will be given a clinical scenario and a short while to review it. You will then be asked questions relating to this scenario. Your communication skills will only be assessed during this question and marked accordingly. This question will last approximately 10 minutes.
The clinical scenario will be relatively brief (two/three sentences), so once you have read this, the remainder of the reading time will allow some short preparation (just mental preparation - this does not mean making notes, etc.).
Clinical scenario considerations
The scenario will describe a hypothetical clinical situation which has arisen in which you are, or have become, involved. Some points to consider when reviewing the scenario and preparing for discussion are:
- what steps you would take
- any potential treatments possible
- any further information you would gather
- how you would go about communicating with any people (eg patients, family members, colleagues) involved in the scenario
You should also consider any other factors you deem appropriate, using your experience and professional judgement.
Areas for assessment
One mark will be awarded to you based on your suggestions and responses to the clinical scenario . The second mark will be on the communication skills you display.
This will be both an assessment of how you would communicate with patients, colleagues, etc. in the scenario, as well as of how well you communicate with interviewers.
This question will be a discussion of professionalism and governance.
This discussion will be prompted by a short question (often a single sentence) provided by interviewers. This will not be given to you before - this will be given verbally by interviewers once ethical scenario discussion is finished. This question will last approximately 8 minutes
This section of the interview is designed to assess your demonstration and understanding of professionalism and governance in a given situation.
Familiarise yourself with Good Medical Practice
Please note - assessment here is underpinned by the principles of GMC Good Medical Practice.
This question will focus on your suitability for and commitment to ST3 training in the specialty and give you opportunity to expand on the information provided in your application form.
This question will last approximately 9 minutes.
Scoring Framework
The score of 1-5 an interviewer will award you for each assessment area is judged in relation to how well you perform against an expected level. Below is the framework used to award scores at interview, as well as interpretation of what these scores represent:
|
Mark
|
Rating
|
Assessment
|
|
1 |
poor |
not considered appointable |
|
2 |
area for concern |
performed below the level expected; possibly unappointable, subject to discussion and performance in other areas |
|
3 |
satisfactory |
performed at the level expected during CT2; the candidate is suitable for an ST3 / LAT post |
|
4 |
good |
above average ability; the candidate is suitable for an ST3 / LAT post |
|
5 |
excellent |
highly performing trainee; the candidate is suitable for an ST3 / LAT post |
As shown in the table, for each of the question areas at interview, 3/5 is considered a satisfactory score; and reflects the level of performance that would be expected of a trainee ready to progress to a specialty training programme.
Should your performance go above and beyond this expected level, interviewers can award marks of 4/5 or 5/5 as appropriate.
Conversely, should your interview performance not reach the expected level, then interviewers can award marks of 1/5 or 2/5, as reflects their level of concern over your performance.
Appointability
From the eight scores awarded during your interview, an 'appointability' status will be calculated to determine whether you can be considered for an offer.
The intention is to ensure successful candidates can display competence consistently across all areas of assessment covered at interview, rather than allowing outstanding achievement in one or more areas to make up for sub-par performance elsewhere.
Appointability is awarded automatically and is based on two factors: individual interview scores and the 'raw interview score'.
Appointability criteria
To be classed as 'appointable', you must meet three criteria below:
- none of your 8 interview scores can be 1/5
- no more than two of your 8 interview scores can be 2/5
- your RIS must be 24 or above.
If you meet all three requirements, your application will be assessed as appointable, and can progress to be considered for post offers.
However, if you fail to meet any of these requirements, your application must then be assessed as not appointable, and it will progress no further in that round.
Total Score
After interview, a weighting is applied to the scores in each area, as well as your application score.
These scores are then combined to give your total score which determines your ranking, which will in turn be used to inform how offers are made. The weighting of different sections, as well as the method by which your total score is established, is detailed in the table accessible through the link below:
|
|
Interviewer 1
|
Interviewer 2
|
Weighting
|
Max score
|
|
Question 1 |
||||
|
Clinical scenario |
/ 5 |
/ 5 |
2.5 |
25 |
|
Communication |
/ 5 |
/ 5 |
1.8 |
18 |
|
Question 2 |
||||
|
Professionalism & governance |
/ 5 |
/ 5 |
1.2 |
12 |
|
Question 3 |
||||
|
Suitability & Commitment |
/ 5 |
/ 5 |
2.5 |
25 |
|
Raw interview score |
/ 40 |
|||
|
Interview score (w weighting) |
/ 80 |
|||
|
Application score |
/ 56 |
0.36 |
/ 20.16 |
|
|
Total score |
/ 100.16 |
|||
Please note that due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, certain recruitment processes have been affected for round 2 ST3 PSRO-coordinated specialties. As a result, the below information on this page is not applicable for this round only and should not be used where the process has changed. Please refer to the applicant guide for the latest information about how round 2 will operate.
Further guidance about the scoring format of interviews will be published to each specialty page and we hope to have this updated by application closing date. Please visit the specialty pages closer to the time for updated information.
Interview content
The specialties of allergy and immunology have elected to hold a single, joint interview again for 2020 ST3 recruitment.
The joint interview will be a single, three-station interview, which will be attended by all candidates applying to either specialty (or both).
You will spend approximately 15 minutes at each of the three interview stations, with three-to-five minutes' transfer time between each. Thus the overall time for the allergy/immunology interview will be approximately 55-60 minutes.
For details of how scores are awarded at interview, and weighting that is applied subsequently, please see the scoring page of this website.
Interview assessment applicable only to applied specialty/ies
The assessment received by candidates from this interview will be applicable for both specialties. However, candidates can only be considered for the specialties to which they have submitted an application. If you wish to be considered for both specialties please submit one application for allergy and a second for immunology.
Click on the relevant stations below for more information on the content of the joint interview.
Please note that this is subject to change, and will be confirmed by the date of interview.
This is where your application form and training to date will be reviewed. This will include checking the documentation you have brought along to ensure all content on your application form is correct.
Evidence checking
Normally your evidence folder will have been reviewed by the interviewers immediately prior to your arrival in the station. They will be:
• Checking that your achievements in your evidence folder match that claimed on your application form.
• Considering your career progression to date.
• Identifying areas about which they may wish to question you during the interview.
Areas for assessment
The two main aspects of discussion here, on which you will be assessed, will be your suitability for and commitment to ST3 training in the specialty, and your achievements and engagement with training and learning to date.
Scoring at the station
It is important to recognise that the scores awarded to you at this station will not purely be about your achievements, as this already contributes towards the scoring via your application form. Interviewers will be deciding upon scores via a combination of factors, for example: your responses to the questions asked, the breadth and quality of your achievements and your career progression.
Prior to arriving at station 2, you will be given a clinical scenario to review. Upon arrival at the station you will be asked questions relating to this scenario.
The clinical scenario will be relatively brief (two/three sentences), so once you have read this, the remainder of the pre-station time will allow you to undertake some short preparation (just mental preparation - this does not mean making notes, etc.)
Scenario considerations
The scenario will describe a hypothetical clinical situation which has arisen in which you are, or have become, involved. Some points to consider when reviewing the scenario and preparing for discussion are:
-
what steps you would take
-
any potential treatments possible
-
any further information you would gather
-
how you would go about communicating with any people (eg patients, family members, colleagues) involved in the scenario.
You should take into account any other factors you deem appropriate, using your experience and professional judgement.
Areas for assessment
One mark will be awarded to you based on your suggestions and responses to the clinical scenario. The second mark will be on the communication skills you display.
This will be both an assessment of how you would communicate with patients, colleagues, etc. in the scenario, as well as of how well you communicate with interviewers at the station.
You will spend 15 minutes at station 2. All of this time will be given to discussion of the clinical scenario between you and the interviewers.
This station will feature discussion of research and academic medicine, followed by discussion of a question on the subject of professionalism & governance.
Research/academic medicine discussion
The first area for which you will be assessed at station 3 will be a general discussion on the subject of research and academic medicine .
No specific preparation will be required of you here, and you will not receive data in advance as you did with the clinical scenario.
However, we would advise undertaking some general preparation. For example, familiarising yourself with the process by which medical research takes place and progresses, from initial setup to report; as well as any areas of research that interest you, and the challenges, benefits, costs, etc. of research more broadly.
Professionalism & governance
Following the research/academic medicine discussion will be a further discussion on the subject of professionalism & governance. This discussion will be prompted by a short question (often a single sentence) provided by interviewers. This will not be given to you before arriving at the station - this will be given verbally by interviewers once the academic/research discussion is finished.
This section of the interview is designed to assess your demonstration and understanding of professionalism and governance considerations in a given situation.
Familiarise yourself with Good Medical Practice
Please note - this discussion will be underpinned by the principles of GMC Good Medical Practice.
Areas for assessment
The first area for which you will receive a score at station 3 will be your demonstration of your knowledge, awareness and understanding of medical research and academic medicine. The second will be your understanding and application of the principles of professionalism & governance.
Time
Station 3 will last for 15 minutes in total. As with station 1, interviewers will look to divide this time between the two different assessment areas relatively evenly, although the changeover of subjects will not necessarily take place exactly at the 7.5-minute mark.
Interview scoring
Appointable - automatic
If you are awarded a score of at least 3/5, for all marks given to you at your interview, then you will automatically be classed as appointable.
Not appointable - automatic
If any of the 12 scores awarded to you at interview are 1/5, this will reflect poor performance and an area of major concern.
If four or more of your 12 interview scores are of 2/5, this will reflect several areas of concern across your whole interview.
Should your interview assessment fall under either category above, the level of concern over your potential progression to ST3 will see your application classed automatically as not appointable.
Appointability subject to panel decision
In the event that your 12 interview scores contain one, two or three marks of 2/5 (and the rest 3/5 or above), your appointability status will be subject to discussion in the post-interview 'wash-up' meeting.
The clinicians who have interviewed you will discuss your general performance during the interview and any concerns or otherwise they have about your application as a whole.
Should they deem it appropriate, your application will be classed as appointable, and you can then be considered for post offers; whereas if they feel their concerns are too substantial for this outcome, they must class your application as not appointable, and it will progress no further in the current recruitment round.
Review vs automatic status
Please note there is no distinction made between candidates judged as appointable automatically, and those classed as appointable on review. Once deemed appointable it is only your overall score which will be used to determine ranking.
Total score calculation
After interview, a weighting is applied to the scores in each area, as well as the application form score, to give a 'total score'. This score determines your ranking which is used to inform how offers are made. The weighting of different sections, as well as the method by which your total score is established, can be seen by clicking on 'Total score calculation' below.
Please note that this is subject to change, and will be confirmed by the date of interview.
| Int. 1 | Int. 2 | Weighting | Max score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Station 1 | ||||
| Evidence | / 5 | / 5 | x1.6 | / 16 |
| Suitability for specialty | / 5 | / 5 | x1.2 | / 12 |
| Station 2 | ||||
| Clinical scenario | / 5 | / 5 | x1.6 | / 16 |
| Communication mark | / 5 | / 5 | x0.8 | / 8 |
| Station 3 | ||||
| Academic | / 5 | / 5 | x1.6 | / 16 |
| Professional and governance | / 5 | / 5 | x1.2 | / 12 |
| Raw interview score | / 60 | |||
| Interview score (including weighting) | / 80 | |||
| Short-listing (app form) | / 80 | x0.25 | / 20 | |
| Overall assessment score | / 100 | |||
Indicative post numbers
Indicative vacancy numbers are available in the table below, broken down by region and divided between substantive national training number (NTN) and locum appointment for training (LAT) posts. In many cases these will be presented as a range (e.g. 1-4) as it is not always possible for regions to know at this stage how many vacancies there will be.
It is the intention that indicative post numbers for all regions will be published prior to the application opening date, although this cannot be guaranteed. Please note that this table is not likely to be updated subsequent to indicative numbers and actual numbers will be confirmed when programme preferences are opened later in the round.
Numbers subject to change
Please be aware that it is not uncommon for vacancy numbers to change as the round progresses.
More commonly, post vacancy numbers can increase as the round goes on (and confirmation of posts becomes available); but it is also possible that numbers can reduce as well. In the past, post numbers have risen an average of 20-40% from the start to the finish of the round but this can vary greatly for individual specialty/region combinations.
It is possible that regions which do not have a post at the start of the round may declare one after applications have closed. Whilst we try and minimise instances of this, it is not always possible to predict vacancies so even if there appears not to be a vacancy in your preferred specialty/region combination, you may wish to consider applying in case one becomes available during the round; you can check with the region concerned if you wish to check on the likelihood of a post arising.
Generally, once a region enter a post into a round they would always have at least one post available and would only withdraw it in exceptional circumstances.
Round 2 Interview dates & post numbers
In this round, the specialties of allergy and immunology will hold a joint interview; whereby applicants to either specialty will undertake the same interview. Those applying to both will need only undertake one single interview.
| Region | NTN posts | LAT posts* | Evidence upload date(s) | Interview date(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HE East Midlands | 0 | n/a |
tbc |
23 September 2021 |
| HE East of England | 0 | n/a | ||
| HE London and South East (lead) |
0 |
n/a | ||
| HE North East | 0 | n/a | ||
| HE North West |
1 |
n/a | ||
| HE South West |
Peninsula |
n/a | ||
|
Severn |
n/a | |||
| HE Thames Valley | 0 | n/a | ||
| HE Wessex | 0 | n/a | ||
| HE West Midlands | 0 | n/a | ||
| HE Yorkshire & Humber | 0 | n/a | ||
| Scotland** | 0 | n/a | ||
| Wales | 0 | n/a |
Round 1 interview dates & posts
In this round, the specialties of allergy and immunology will hold a joint interview; whereby applicants to either specialty will undertake the same interview. Those applying to both will need only undertake one single interview.
| Region | NTN posts | LAT posts* | Evidence upload date(s) | Interview date(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HE East Midlands | 0 | N/A |
23 December 2020 - 07 January 2021 |
London 22 January 2021 |
| HE East of England | 0-2 | N/A | ||
| HE London and South East (lead) |
0-1 |
N/A | ||
| HE North East | 0 | N/A | ||
| HE North West |
TBC |
N/A | ||
| HE South West |
Peninsula |
N/A | ||
|
Severn |
N/A | |||
| HE Thames Valley | 0 | N/A | ||
| HE Wessex | 0-1 | N/A | ||
| HE West Midlands | 0 | N/A | ||
| HE Yorkshire & Humber | 0 | N/A | ||
| Scotland** | 0 | N/A | ||
| Wales | 0 | N/A |
*English LATs
Please note, English regions do not recruit to LAT posts.
**Scotland post numbers
If you are interested in working in Scotland, a breakdown of post numbers by the four Scottish deaneries is available on the Scottish Medical Training website. This has details of all specialty training post numbers in Scotland, including specialties which are not part of the nationally-coordinated process.
Please note that whilst we endeavour to keep the Physician ST3 recruitment website up to date, the SMT website will always be the more accurate one where they differ.
As part of the process of applying to ST3, you may wish to gain an idea of how recruitment progressed in previous years for the various specialties participating in the nationally-coordinated recruitment.
To this end, we have published data dating back to 2013 (where this is available), based around four main areas:
-
Competition ratios - application numbers submitted to each specialty, along with the number of NTN and LAT posts available in each. It is worth noting that posts are subject to change throughout the round (increasing on average between 20-40%), and post numbers for this data are taken at the end of the round.
-
Shortlist scores - the scores awarded to all submitted applications, including average scores and distribution nationally.
-
Total scores - the total score awarded to all candidates who completed the full recruitment process for a specialty (application and interview), including some analysis of scores.
-
Post fill rates - the number of posts filled by region.
We have published information for all specialties participating in our process that year; consequently not all specialties will have data in all cases.
Round 1
| Year | Apps. | NTN posts | LAT posts | Total posts | Comp. | Unique* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3.7 | 18% |
| 2019 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5.0 | 0% |
| 2018 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11.0 | 27% |
| 2017 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2.7 | 13% |
| 2016 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.0 | 43% |
| 2015 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1.7 | 25% |
* the percentage of unique candidates that only applied to this specialty (out of the 24 RCP-coordinated specialties)
Round 2
| Year | Apps. | NTN posts | LAT posts | Total posts | Comp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2017 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 2016 | Did not participate in round 2 | ||||
| 2015 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
