Competition and Vacancies
Competition
National recruitment
National recruitment into Scottish and English Orthopaedic Registrar
training is facilitated by Health Education England Yorkshire and the Humber.
Wales and Northern Ireland have separate local application processes also held through the Oriel website.
Application timeline
Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery ST3 2026 National Recruitment will follow the timeline below:
Activity | Date(s) |
Applications open | 10am on Thursday 20 November 2025 |
Application deadline | 4pm on Thursday 11 December 2025 |
Self Assessment evidence upload | tbc |
Self Assessment Verification | tbc |
Self Assessment Appeals panel | tbc |
Interviews | tbc |
Initial offers released | by 5pm on Tuesday 14 April 2026 |
Hold Deadline | 1pm on Wednesday 22 April 2026 |
Upgrade Deadline | 4pm on Thursday 23 April 2026 |
NB: All times and dates are indicative and subject to change
ST3 Trauma and Orthopaedic Person Specification
Make yourself aware of the Person Specification, as the interview is likely to ask you to demonstrate these competencies through questions and scenarios.
Competition ratio
In 2024 522 people applied for 164 Trauma and Orthopaedics ST3 posts. This means that 3.18 people competing for each post.
Vacancy Numbers from 2024
As of October 2025 these are still to be released on the HEE recruitment site linked above.
Regional Office | Vacancies |
East Midlands | 7 – 9 |
East of England | 0 – 10 |
North East | 0 – 5 |
North West (North West) | 4 – 10 |
North West (Mersey) | 4 – 10 |
NHS Education for Scotland | 3 – 4 |
South West (Peninsula) | 2 – 4 |
South West (Severn) | 0 – 12 |
LaSE London Recruitment | 24 – 39 |
LaSE Kent, Surrey & Sussex | 17 – 19 |
Thames Valley | 2 – 4 |
Wessex | 6 – 11 |
West Midlands | 6 – 17 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 8 |