Occupational Therapist Interview Questions (NHS Band 5)

An NHS occupational therapy interview is values-based: the panel is assessing whether your values match the NHS Constitution's, alongside your clinical reasoning. This guide covers the questions that come up for a Band 5 post, what each one is really testing, and the habit that most separates strong answers from average ones.

999ready is an independent practice resource and is not affiliated with the NHS, RCOT or the HCPC.

Talk about function, not intervention

This is the single thing that marks out a good OT answer. Weaker candidates describe what they did — the assessment they completed, the equipment they ordered. Stronger candidates describe what the person could do afterwards that they could not do before.

"I completed a kitchen assessment" is an activity. "She wanted to make her own lunch again, and after we changed the layout and added a perching stool she could do it standing for the ten minutes it took" is occupational therapy. Panels are listening for goals in the patient's own terms, and for your reasoning about how you got there.

Questions you should expect

• Tell us about a time you put a patient at the centre of their care.
• Describe a patient you worked with whose goals differed from what the team thought was best.
• How do you explain your role to a patient who does not know what an OT does?
• Tell us about a time you had to manage a competing caseload. How did you prioritise?
• Describe a time you raised a concern about safety or a standard of care.
• How do you keep your practice evidence-based?
• Tell us about a time you disagreed with a colleague about a patient's discharge.
• Describe a time you adapted your communication for someone who found it hard to understand you.
• What would you do if you felt a discharge was unsafe but there was pressure on beds?
• Tell us about feedback you received and what you changed.

What a Band 5 answer has to show

Band 5 is practitioner level. The expectation is not only that you maintain the standard in your own practice, but that you can evaluate your own work and support others to meet it too. An answer that ends "and it worked well" leaves marks on the table; one that ends "looking back, I would have involved the family sooner, and I did on the next similar case" shows the reflection the band expects.

See the Band 5 interview questions for how that expectation applies across other roles.

Discharge pressure comes up, and it is a values question

Almost every OT interview contains a version of "what if you thought a discharge was unsafe". It is not really about discharge — it is testing whether you will hold a professional line under organisational pressure.

The answer that scores is neither "I would follow the consultant's decision" nor "I would refuse". It is: state your clinical reasoning clearly, document it, escalate through the proper route, and propose what would make the discharge safe — equipment, a package of care, a home visit. Panels want someone who advocates without becoming an obstacle.

If you qualified outside the UK

You are interviewed to exactly the same standard, and your overseas experience is an asset. Two adjustments are worth making.

Speak in the first person. In many countries it is normal, and modest, to describe what the team achieved; a UK panel is scoring your contribution and will mark down an answer where they cannot find you in it. And expect behavioural questions rather than clinical-knowledge ones — the format catches people out more than the content does.

If you are still working through registration, see our guide to HCPC registration for international occupational therapists.

Practise them out loud

Use the STAR structure to stay concrete, and read the six NHS values so you can hear which one a question is aimed at.

Then rehearse properly: our Values-Based Interview Coach scores your own spoken or typed answers against your nation's published NHS values at Band 5 depth, and tells you what is missing. The first feedback is free. You can also browse the occupational therapist question set.

Applying to study occupational therapy rather than work as one? See OT university interview questions instead.