NHS CV Template: Free Structure for NHS Job Applications

An NHS CV template differs from a standard CV template in the sections NHS recruiters shortlist against: professional registration (GMC or NMC) near the top, clinical experience post by post, audit and quality improvement, teaching, and courses. Below is the full structure, a downloadable .docx you can fill in, and notes on adapting it to a person specification.

The NHS CV template structure

• Name, contact details, and a registration line: GMC or NMC status, required certifications (ALS/BLS), and right to work if the advert asks.
• Professional Summary — grade or band, specialty or ward experience, and your strongest person-specification evidence.
• Registration and Qualifications — registration status and year, primary qualification, postgraduate exams.
• Clinical Experience — each post with grade/band, specialty, trust, dates, and evidence bullets (patient groups, settings, documentation, escalation, MDT working).
• Audit and Quality Improvement — what you measured, the standard, what changed, any re-audit.
• Teaching and Training — audience, format, feedback.
• Courses and Certifications — official names, provider, year.
• Research, Publications and Presentations — one line each, only what you can discuss at interview.
• Professional Memberships, then References (available on request).

Why an NHS CV needs different sections

NHS shortlisting is scored against a person specification, and its essential criteria almost always include registration, specific clinical experience, and evidence of audit, governance, or teaching. A standard resume has nowhere obvious to put those, so shortlisters end up hunting — or scoring the criterion as unmet. The template gives each scored area its own labeled section, which is the whole trick: make every essential criterion findable in seconds.

The format itself stays conservative — single column, plain text, consistent dates — for the same parsing and readability reasons as the standard ATS resume template.

How to fill it in for a specific post

• Open the person specification next to the template and work criterion by criterion: every essential criterion should have at least one obvious line of evidence in the CV.
• Use the advert's own terms where they are true for you — the ward type, the patient group, the named systems and courses.
• Describe audits by their cycle (measured, changed, re-audited) rather than by title alone.
• Keep facts exact: registration status, dates, and grades are checked, and inaccuracy costs more in healthcare than anywhere else.

For the full guidance behind each section — length, registration details, what recruiters expect — see the NHS CV guide.

Who this template fits: doctors, nurses, and other clinical roles

The skeleton is shared; the emphasis differs. Doctors expand clinical experience, audit, and research — the NHS doctor CV example shows a filled-in version. Nurses and midwives lead with NMC registration, ward experience, and medication safety — run the NHS nurse CV checklist before sending. If you are applying outside the UK or translating overseas experience, the medical CV guide covers the differences.

Frequently asked questions