Overview of Histopathology

An overview of Histopathology ST1.

Introduction

The National Recruitment Office for Histopathology ST1 is London.

London is recruiting to posts on behalf of England, Scotland and Wales.

This guidance applies only to the England, Scotland and Wales vacancy. If you wish to apply for Northern Ireland, please review their guidance.

Working alongside Royal College of Pathologists we manage a centralised process aimed at delivering a fair and consistent process for all applicants.

For more information about Histopathology training please refer to Royal College of Pathologists.

For careers advice please visit the Health Careers Website.

Training programmes

If you are considering a career in Histopathology have a look at what the different programmes have to offer.

Summary of 2027 recruitment process

Details of the process for 2027 are provided throughout these pages in conjunction with central guidance issued by the national recruitment team that applies across specialties. You can find the central guidance on the Medical Specialty Recruitment pages.

You must read this page and the guidance on the Medical Specialty Recruitment pages before beginning your application.

There are 2 vacancies for Histopathology ST1 in this recruitment round. One for England, Scotland and Wales – Histopathology ST1 (Vacancy 1) and one for Northern Ireland – Histopathology ST1 (Vacancy 2). The guidance on this page only applies to England, Scotland and Wales vacancy. If you are wishing to apply to Northern Ireland, please refer to their guidance.

Applications will only be considered for 1 vacancy so you should ensure that you only apply to your preferred one. The Oriel system will not prevent two applications being made. At the application closing date, any applicants that have a live (i.e. not withdrawn) application to both vacancies will have the application with the earliest submission date withdrawn and the later application will be retained.

Applications withdrawn by the applicant prior to the application closing date will not count as duplicates.

Applicants will not be able to withdraw their own duplicate application after the application window has closed. Withdrawals will be actioned by the relevant recruitment team.

Histopathology 2027 recruitment will involve the following stages (which are outlined in more detail in the relevant sections of these pages):

1. As part of the Oriel application form you will be asked to provide a self-assessment score based on your personal achievements across a number of domains, details regarding this can be found in the Self-assessment guidance. This score will be used to help the National Recruitment Office shortlist should application numbers exceed capacity at various parts of the recruitment process (details to follow). The verified Self-Assessment score will not contribute to your final score or ranking outcome at the end of the recruitment process
2. If there are a significantly greater number of applications than interview capacity, we may shortlist out candidates whose self-assessment score is too far away from the interview capacity cut off to have a chance of being shortlisted. Where this is the case, the specialty will withdraw candidates at an early stage, usually soon after applications close once numbers can be assessed against capacity
3. Applicants who fail to upload evidence during the advertised window will be withdrawn from the recruitment process

4. Consultants will review the evidence you upload to verify that you have claimed the correct number of points. They may adjust your score if they determine your evidence warrants a different score than your self-assessment. This produces your verified total self-assessment score

5. The National Recruitment Office will review all the scores and identify the following:

   1. The verified self-assessment score needed to be invited to interview

   2. A verified self-assessment score needed to be placed on the interview reserve list

Applicants will be advised of these scores ahead of the appeals window. 

Applicants who meet the cut off score for the interview stage will not need to appeal. All other applicants  will have an opportunity to appeal their verified self-assessment scores.

6. After the evidence verification process is complete, the highest scoring applicants will be invited to attend a remote interview
7. Your scores at interview will be used to determine your final total score and ranking

Summary of change for recruitment process 2027

You can find the full details on our website for Prioritisation for 2027 specialty training recruitment.

Additional information can be found on Changes to Medical Specialty Training recruitment for 2027.

Certificate of Readiness to Enter Specialty Training (CREST) Update

For further information regarding the CREST form and providing proof of Foundation competencies, please see the Medical Specialty Recruitment pages.

There is now an amended 2027 CREST form which maps to the most recent version of the Foundation curriculum. Please use this 2027 version of the form when submitting your application. However, the 2024 version continues to be acceptable for 2027 recruitment.

If you are required to submit a CREST, you must do so before at the time of submitting your application. Failure to submit this will result in your application being withdrawn.

New CREST functionality has been added to Oriel meaning that applicants can only upload one CREST per recruitment round. This single CREST will be used across all applications where it is indicated that a CREST is required.

The initial academic round in England is linked to Round 1 for CREST review meaning that any CREST submitted in the academic round will also be used for applications submitted in Round 1 of the same recruitment year.

Where applicants are required to submit a Certificate of Readiness to Enter Specialty Training, but fail to do so, or submit a different type of competency document, their applications will be rejected. 

Round Deadline for submitting a CREST form

When submitting CREST document, the accepted time-period for the post used to evidence competences will be as follows:

Round 1:

For August 2027 recruitment start date, we can accept a CREST for posts undertaken from February 2024 onwards.

It is anticipated that applicants will be able to provide a CREST at time of application.

The CREST upload window will close at 4pm on Thursday 19 November 2026.