Overview of Plastic Surgery

Plastic Surgery

An overview of Plastic Surgery Training ST3.

Important: Important

For the 2026 recruitment cycle, these pages will be updated by the day before applications open for Round 2.

Candidates looking to apply in 2026 are encouraged to wait until the new guidance is published.

Applies to: England, Scotland and Wales. See guidance for Northern Ireland.

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.

These pages aim to provide you with information regarding all aspects of the nationally coordinated Plastic Surgery ST3 recruitment in England, Scotland, and Wales. General information regarding recruitment to all specialty training posts is available on the Medical Specialty Recruitment pages.

Non-urgent advice: Communication from Oriel

Please note that all communication with applicants will be via Oriel, or via the contact details you provide as part of your Oriel application. You must ensure that your contact details are correct and kept up to date throughout the recruitment process.

2026 recruitment

Details of the 2026 recruitment process 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 these pages and the guidance before beginning your application.

Please also read the Oriel online portfolio application form very carefully as it is refined every year and includes useful information and clarification of details required.

Plastic Surgery recruitment will involve the following stages (which are outlined in more detail in these pages)

  1. As part of the Oriel application form you will be asked to provide a self-assessment score depending on your personal achievements
  2. You will then be invited to upload evidence of their achievements to the Evidence Upload Portal
  3. The evidence you upload will be reviewed by a team of Plastic Surgery consultants. They will verify that you have claimed the correct number of points and can change your score if they feel your evidence merits a different score from your self-assessment. This produces your verified evidence score
  4. After the evidence verification process is complete, the highest scoring applicants will be invited to attend a remote interview
  5. A combination of your verified evidence score and scores at interview will be used to determine your final total score and ranking

Summary of changes for 2026 recruitment

There are several changes to the self-assessment verification process for this round. The number of domains has been reduced from 17 to 11 domains.

The surgical components for Skin, Hands and Burns have been reduced.

Qualifications outside of medicine, management and leadership, and teaching and training have been removed.

Plastic Surgery recruitment will involve the following stages (which are outlined in more detail in these pages).

Page last reviewed: 19 November 2025
Next review due: 19 November 2027