2026 Occupational Medicine ST3 Self-assessment Guidance

Completing the Self-assessment and preparing the supportive evidence.

Important: Accuracy

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained on this page.

The information presented is accurate at the time of publication.

You will be required to complete a self-assessment as part of your Oriel Occupational Medicine application.

As part of the application process, you must upload supporting evidence to justify the self-assessment achievements you claim on your application form by the specified deadline. If you fail to upload your supporting evidence for any domain, you will not be awarded any points in that domain.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept late submissions of evidence, therefore any evidence submitted after the deadline will be disregarded and will not attract any points. Guidance will be available in Oriel on how to upload documents and it is imperative that you adhere to this guidance to enable your evidence to be verified.

When completing the self-assessment, please note the following.

Completed achievements only

You can only claim a score based on achievements completed by the point of submission of your application.

Scores not adjustable after submission

You cannot submit evidence or adjust your scores after your application is submitted. You should review your scores before you submit your application to amend any mistakes as you will not be able to amend any errors after you have submitted your application.

You will also not be able to amend your scores if you gained an achievement after the submission of your application.

Overclaiming

Your self-scores will be verified by a senior Occupational Health Physician (OHP) in accordance with the criteria below (see table 3).

If a candidate blatantly or persistently tries to gain an unfair advantage by over-claiming scores for and/or exaggerates their achievements, it will be taken extremely seriously.

This could lead to the applicant being deemed not appointable, or, in very serious cases, could be reported as a probity matter to the GMC; however, this is a very rare outcome and only considered in cases of overt cheating.

Word limitations

There will be a text box for each domain where you will be required to add text to explain why you believe you have met the criteria for that domain.

Each section will have a maximum word count, detailed in the table below, however, we advise that you keep your explanations as short as possible to justify the selection as the main justification for each score is the evidence you submit.

The Panel will have limited time to check application forms and the more succinct you can be about your achievement, the more straightforward it will be for them to review your folder.

Table 1 - Maximum word count by domain
Scoring domain Word count
Scoring domain Postgraduate qualifications Word count 100
Scoring domain Prizes and awards  Word count 100
Scoring domain Clinical governance Word count 250
Scoring domain Academic research Word count 250
Scoring domain Teaching Word count 250
Scoring domain Academic publications Word count 250
Scoring domain Presentations (excluding audit presentations)  Word count 250
Scoring domain Posters  Word count 250
Scoring domain Self-reflective practice  Word count 300

Submitting Evidence

After the application closing date, you will be required to upload supporting evidence to justify the self-assessment scores you have claimed on your application form.

You should finalise and plan to have your documents ready to upload soon after your application submission.

We will write to you soon after the application closing date to confirm the method and upload window for submission of your evidence. However, you are advised to prepare documents in advance so this process can be completed quickly.

Your self scores will be verified by experienced OHPs against the evidence you submit and the criteria below (table 3).

To ensure a smooth process, please ensure you follow the tips below when uploading your evidence, because disorganised or poorly presented documents may result in your scores not being verified and granted:

  • You must upload supporting evidence to justify the self-assessment scores you claim in your application. Failure to upload your supporting evidence may result in your scores not being verified and granted
  • Only evidence supporting each of the claimed achievements should be uploaded. There is no requirement for you to upload any additional documents or achievements if they are not related to the domain where you are claiming a score
  • Please include enough evidence to demonstrate achievements which justify your self score. Submitting multiple items of evidence, for the same domain (unless you are asked to present more than one example) will not increase your score. For examples:
    • If you have completed more than one national presentation, there is no requirement to include all of them and  one is sufficient
    • If you have written a book, you do not need to upload the whole book - just the relevant credit page or the citation is sufficient
    • In domains where more than one item of evidence attracts a higher score for example, Academic research, two or three items of evidence will be sufficient

Evidence of attending training courses should not be included unless they relate to a specific score. Specifically, attending a course does not attract any score under teaching (except “Train the Trainer” courses) or reflection.

To receive a score for the Teaching domain, you require evidence of being involved in teaching and not attending as an attendee or student. To receive a score under Reflection, we require evidence of your reflection on the learning from the course.

You must ensure individual identifiable data including patients or students you might have taught etc. are redacted as this may result in breach of confidentiality and of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Serious breaches may result in taking further action

Any documentation in any other languages than English must be fully translated formally by an approved service into English, otherwise the evidence will be disregarded and you will not be awarded any points for that evidence

You will not be able to submit further evidence once the Evidence Upload window closes and only the evidence you uploaded during the specific window will be taken into account as part of your application

Please do not submit photos of yourself presenting, teaching or receiving an award as we cannot verify the individual in the photo and, more importantly, you should submit the relevant evidence to confirm the achievement for example, certificate of an award

In general, the same evidence will not be scored in more than one domain. For example, if you have completed an audit, presented it as slide set and then as a poster, you will be only scored in domain 3 under Clinical Governance, but not under domain 7 Presentations or domain 8 Posters. There are, nonetheless, occasions that similar evidence might be considered under two domains at the discretion of the verifying OHP for example, published research can be used for domain 4 Academic Research and domain 6 Academic Publications

File types and naming – you should follow the standards below to ensure your evidence is presented correctly and reviewed by the verifier:

  • Clearly named files with the scoring domain name appearing first, followed by a description of the document; for example, Academic research – title of journal or the paper
  • Aim to use standardised file types which can be opened by any user regardless of the software they have available. You should aim to convert all files to PDF, JPEG or PNG format
  • Ensure each document is contained within a single file - for example, do not take a photo of each page of a publication and upload them as separate files

Suggested evidence

You must provide evidence to support each of the scores that you awarded yourself in the self-assessment part of the application form. Whilst it is not possible to provide an exhaustive list of acceptable evidence, table 2 below provides examples of acceptable evidence but also evidence that will not count towards score in a domain.

Table 2 - Suggested evidence

Postgraduate Training in other specialties
Examples of acceptable evidence Evidence of completion of specialist or GP training including CCT, CESR or equivalent evidence.

Copy of the GMC register confirming your name on the specialist or the GP register.

Copy of ARCP (Annual Review of Competency Progression) or RITA (Record of In-Training Assessment) outcome.

Completed and signed Certificate of Completion of Common Professional Capabilities (CCCPC).
Postgraduate Medical Qualifications
Examples of acceptable evidence Copy of Dip Occ Med certificate or letter from the Faculty of Occupational Medicine confirming award of the same.

Membership of or passing other colleges’ exams do not count toward scores in this domain.
Prizes and Awards
Examples of acceptable evidence Copy letter from the Medical School or the qualification body.

Copy of certificate of the prize.

Letters of gratitude / thank you and awards and prizes before entering higher education do not count toward score in this domain.
Clinical Governance
Examples of acceptable evidence Copy of a full audit report with clear demonstration of your involvement and role in the audit.

A presentation handout of the audit can be considered as a substitute as long as it covers all headings of an audit report and your involvement and role in the audit.

Other quality improvement projects such as service evaluation can be considered as a substitute as long as they cover typical headings of a QI project report and your involvement and role in the project Copy of policies or SOPs where you have developed or significantly contributed to their development, clearly demonstrating your role.

Copy of minutes of relevant meetings you have chaired.

Your being involved in development of a policy or attending a meeting with no significant contribution do not count toward score in this domain.
Academic Research
Examples of acceptable evidence Original MD or other qualification certificate that requires a dissertation or thesis.

Letter from research supervisor confirming your role.

Copy of research project and clear explanation of your role.
Teaching
Examples of acceptable evidence Copy of certificate of  a teaching qualification.

Evidence of involvement in a teaching programme as a teacher for exampe, a letter from the course organiser, programme of the day.

Evidence of your delivery of teaching including feedback received.

Attendance at a course or simple presentation of a topic without a teaching element will not count toward scores in this domain.
Academic publications
Examples of acceptable evidence Copy of full text of publication(s) in a peer reviewed journal underlining your name.

A letter from the other author to confirm your role if you are joint first author.

Abstracts, links to the publication, full research project (does this mean doing a full project with no evidence that a publication resulted?), slides of a presentation of research project do not count toward scores in this domain.
Presentations (excluding audit presentations)
Examples of acceptable evidence Copy of presentation on a medical or health and safety topic (slide deck) and a copy of the event programme clearly demonstrating your name as the presenter. If there is no programme for the event, you should provide a formal letter from the organising body or the chair of the event.

The relevance of the subject will be decided by the verifying OH physician.

Posters, presentations of an audit or quality improvement project, presentations for the purpose of teaching, presentations without an event programme or accompanying letter or on a subject that is not related to a medical or health and safety topic will not count toward scores in this domain.
Posters
Examples of acceptable evidence Copy of posters on an academic subject or another subject related to medicine or health and safety topic.

Promotional posters for example, to introduce a service or to promote healthy life style will not count toward score in this domain.
Self-reflective practice
Examples of acceptable evidence Evidence of reflection on an event, for example, following attendance at an OH meeting, visiting an OH service, attending CPD events or receiving a complaint.

Example of a reflection Include, but not limited to a description of the event, positive / negatives elements, learning, change of practice and actions.

Please note you must submit evidence of the reflection under this section. Evidence of attendance at or being involved in an event without reflection will not be sufficient on its own and  will not count toward a score in this domain.

Self-assessment Scoring Criteria

You are asked to self-score your application based on specific criteria presented in table 3 below.

Please read the table carefully and ensure you match your achievement as closely as possible to the claimed score. You should avoid under or over-scoring to the best of your ability.

Table 3 - Self-assessment Domains

Question 1 - Postgraduate Medical Qualifications
  1. DOccMed (score: 1)
  2. None of the above (score: 0)
Question 2 - Prizes and awards
  1. I was awarded a Distinction during my undergraduate medical training (score: 2)
  2. I was awarded a Prize or Merit during my undergraduate medical training (score: 1)
  3. I was not awarded one (score: 0)
Question 3 - Evidence of a portfolio of audit/quality improvement projects, including where the audit loop has been closed and there is evidence of learning of the principles of change management
  1. Have made a significant contribution to postgraduate audit projects (for example, managed an audit project, made recommendations for changes to practice based on audit findings, closed the audit loop) – one or more project a year and at least 1 presented at a regional, national or international meeting (score: 4)
  2. Have made a significant contribution to postgraduate audit projects (for example, managed an audit project, made recommendations for changes to practice based on audit findings, closed the audit loop) - one a year or less and these presented at a local meeting (score: 3)
  3. Have made a significant contribution to postgraduate audit projects, for example, managed an audit project, made recommendations for changes to practice based on audit findings, but have not closed the audit loop (score: 2)
  4. Have taken part in other people's postgraduate audits, (such as data collection) or made other minor contributions, not led or designed the audit (score: 1)
  5. None of the above (score: 0)
Question 4 - Evidence of relevant academic and research achievements, and involvement in a formal research project
  1. Completion of a PhD with original research (score: 4)
  2. Significant involvement in research, for example, 2-year MD with original research (score: 3)
  3. I have had some personal and direct involvement with planning or running a postgraduate research project (score: 2)
  4. I have had no involvement in any aspect of research (score: 0)
Question 5 - Teaching
  1. I have made a major contribution to a local/national teaching programme including organising a programme or have a recognised qualification in teaching, for example, Diploma in Medical Education, Masters in Medical Education (score: 4)
  2. I have some experience in formal teaching Health Professionals (such as lectures) and/or I have some experience of formal teaching Health-related topics to a non-medical audience (such as lectures) (score: 3)
  3. I have attended a Teaching the Teachers course, Generic Instructors course or similar (score: 2)
  4. I have carried out informal teaching of colleagues (including nurses and medical students) (score: 1)
  5. I have not contributed to teaching (score: 0)
Question 6 - Academic Publications
  1. I am first author in more than one peer-reviewed publication as a postgraduate (score: 4)
  2. I am first author on one peer-reviewed publication as a postgraduate (score: 3)
  3. I am co-author in more than one peer-reviewed publication as a postgraduate (score: 2)
  4. I am co-author in one peer-reviewed publication as a postgraduate or I am an author of an undergraduate publication (score: 1)
  5. I have not published anything (score: 0)
Question 7 - Presentations (excluding audit presentations)
  1. I have presented at a regional, national or international meeting (score: 4)
  2. I have presented at a local meeting. (score: 2)
  3. I have made a departmental presentation (score: 1)
  4. I have made no presentations (score: 0)
Question 8 - Posters
  1. I have achieved a poster at a regional, national or international meeting (score: 2)
  2. I have achieved a poster at a local or departmental meeting. (score: 1)
  3. I have achieved no posters (score: 0)
Question 9 - Self-reflective practice
  1. Description of feedback and reflection – able to relate a relevant episode of reflection Articulate and confident description. Used the experience to reflect on an aspect of occupational medicine practice in the context of them preparing to work in the specialty (score: 4)
  2. Description of feedback and reflection – able to relate a relevant episode of reflection, merely reflecting on an aspect of occupational medicine practice, demonstrating how they made a change to their current practice (score: 2)
  3. Little evidence of feedback or reflection - limited awareness of the relationship between health and work (score: 1)
  4. No evidence of reflection (score: 0)

Page last reviewed: 6 November 2025
Next review due: 6 November 2027