NHS 111 Health Advisor / Call Handler: NHS Interview Questions
typically Band 3
NHS 111 Health Advisor interviews are values-based and centre on communication under pressure, compassion for callers who are anxious or unwell, and following process accurately. Strong examples show you stay calm, listen carefully, and keep the caller at the heart of every decision.
Communication
Panels listen for: Listen for a willingness to listen first and check they have understood, an awareness of the other person's perspective and how they are reacting, and a clear sense of the candidate's own contribution and the difference it made.
- How do you know when family, patients, relatives or colleagues have actually understood you?
- Talk me through a time you dealt with someone who was angry or confrontational.
- Tell me about a time you worked with someone you found difficult to deal with.
- Give an example of how you share what you know to help other people.
Care and Compassion
Panels listen for: Listen for warmth and empathy: kindness, a person-centred approach, putting people at ease, treating people with dignity, listening properly, reassuring the anxious, and standing up for those who need it. Good answers sound human — "I could see they were frightened, so I…", "I wanted to reassure them", "I made time to listen" — and show awareness of how colleagues cope under pressure.
- What does showing care and compassion mean to you day to day?
- Describe a time you showed genuine compassion to someone, at home or at work.
- Tell me about an occasion when you saw someone treated without care or compassion, and how you responded.
- Describe a time you helped a colleague provide caring, compassionate support to someone.
Quality
Panels listen for: Listen for an instinct for accuracy and standards, an understanding of evidence-based practice, consistency under pressure, and a sense of responsibility for the quality of both their own and the team's work.
- How do you make sure your own work is of the standard required?
- Give an example of how you check the accuracy of your work.
- Talk me through a time you noticed poor quality at work.
- Tell me about a change you made to improve quality.
Health, Safety and Security
Panels listen for: Listen for personal responsibility for safety, alertness to risk before it becomes an incident, knowing when and how to escalate, and a focus on safe systems of work and prevention.
- How do you take personal responsibility for your own health, safety and security?
- Describe a time you spotted a health, safety or security risk.
- How do you keep up to date with health and safety in your work?
- What do you do to keep your working environment safe?
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