NHS CV template and an allied health example
An NHS CV template should put your professional registration, current band and most recent post at the top, then your posts or rotations in reverse order, then training and CPD. Many NHS jobs use an application form, so the CV serves bank, agency and private work and becomes the source you copy into the form.
By Adam Smith, EditorPublished Updated
Three templates that suit healthcare CVs
- Healthcare Professional
Healthcare Professional is a Pro template built for clinical staff. It gives registration, competencies and certifications their own clear space, so a band 5 or band 6 panel can check your register, rotations and CPD at a glance.
- Modern Professional
Modern Professional is on the free plan. Its clean single column suits both clinical and non-clinical NHS staff, reads well in agency and provider systems, and gives you a tidy base to copy from into an NHS Jobs form.
- Minimalist ATS
Minimalist ATS is a Pro template with the plainest layout of the three. Use it for job boards and provider application systems that read your text first, or when you want every line to carry evidence and nothing else.
Sample CV
Free accounts open this example in the free Modern Professional template.
Does the NHS use CVs?
Partly. Most NHS posts in England and Wales are advertised on NHS Jobs, where each advert links to a job description and a person specification, and many trusts ask you to complete an online form with a supporting statement rather than upload a CV. That leads some people to think the CV does not matter. It does, for three reasons.
- Bank and staffing agencies, private hospitals, independent providers, GP practices and hospices usually ask for a CV.
- The form asks for the same history in a different shape. A current CV means you copy accurate dates, bands and duties in minutes rather than rebuilding them from memory.
- Interview panels often have your CV or form in front of them. Anything you wrote may come up.
The registration line for clinical staff
If your job is regulated, the reader wants to see that first. Occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiographers, paramedics, speech and language therapists and other allied health professionals must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) to practise in the UK under a protected title. Nurses and midwives register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Put your profession and register under your name, for example "Occupational Therapist, HCPC registered". You can give the number or write "registration number available on request"; the employer checks the register either way.
Setting out bands and rotations
NHS readers think in bands, so include yours in the job title line: "Occupational Therapist (Band 5), rotational". Rotational posts are common for newly qualified allied health professionals and nurses, and they are easy to set out badly. List the post once with its overall dates, then give each rotation as a short sub-entry with the service, the length and two or three things you did there. That shows breadth without making the page look like you changed job every six months.
CPD, supervision and moving up a band
The HCPC expects registrants to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) on a continuing basis, and those selected for audit submit a profile of their activities. A short CPD section drawn from that record tells a panel you are still learning. Pick the entries that fit the post: a course, a competency, an audit or a project, a practice educator role, or a service development. Leave out routine mandatory training unless the advert names it.
Moving from band 5 to band 6 means showing you work with less supervision and help others. Evidence that panels look for includes holding a more complex caseload, supervising students or support workers, leading a small project or audit, covering for a senior colleague and working across teams. If you are also changing setting, as in the example moving from acute to community, name what transfers: discharge planning, home visits, risk assessment and working with social care.
Non-clinical NHS roles
Administrators, medical secretaries, finance, estates, IT, HR and project staff are a large part of the NHS workforce, and the same template works with one change: there is no registration line. Put your band and department in each job title, then name the systems you use, such as electronic patient records, patient administration systems or rostering tools, and the teams you support. Where you have worked to targets such as referral-to-treatment times or clinic utilisation, give your own figures only if you can explain them.
Mirror the person specification
Every NHS post has a person specification split into essential and desirable criteria, and shortlisting is scored against it. Before you edit your CV, copy the essential criteria into a list and write next to each one where your CV proves it. Any criterion with nothing next to it is a gap to fill, often with an example you left out because it seemed small. Then use the same words the specification uses, so a panel member working down the list finds each point quickly. Do the same for the supporting statement if the post uses a form.
Which template to choose
All three templates below keep the text in one readable order, which matters when the CV goes through an agency or a provider's online system. The Healthcare Professional template has room for registration and certification entries, which suits clinical staff with competencies to list. Modern Professional is the free, general choice. Minimalist ATS is the plainest, for forms and job boards.
Already have a CV?
- Check your CV free with the ATS checker: see how an application system reads it, with your top three fixes, and no sign-up.
- Tailor your CV to a job advert: paste the advert and see which parts of your CV to change.
Questions people ask
- Is there an official NHS CV template?
- No. Many NHS posts use an online application form with a supporting statement on NHS Jobs instead of a CV. A clear, single-column CV with your registration, band and posts at the top works for bank, agency and private roles, and as the source for the form.
- Should I put my HCPC or NMC number on my CV?
- You can, or you can write "registration number available on request". State your profession and the register under your name either way. Employers check the register before you start, so the number is not needed for shortlisting.
- How do I show rotations on an NHS CV?
- List the rotational post once with its overall dates and band, then give each rotation as a sub-entry with the service, the length and two or three things you did. This shows breadth without looking like several short jobs.
- How long should an NHS CV be?
- Two pages of A4 suits most registered staff. Newly qualified staff and many non-clinical roles fit on one. Keep registration, your current post and your strongest evidence against the person specification on the first page.
- What should a band 6 CV show that a band 5 CV does not?
- More independence and more responsibility for others: a complex caseload, supervising students or support staff, leading an audit or small project, covering for senior colleagues and working across teams. Tie each point to the essential criteria in the person specification.