NHS values in a supporting statement: show your evidence

To show NHS values in a supporting statement, describe something you did that demonstrates the value named in the application. Explain the situation, your action and what followed. Use the recruiting organisation's wording, and check whether it asks for a separate values answer or evidence within the wider statement.

Check which values the application names

The NHS Constitution for England, published by the Department of Health and Social Care and updated on 17 August 2023, sets out the values below. Its scope is England. For a job elsewhere in the UK, read that employer's documents before choosing the values to address.

The Constitution says: "Individual organisations will develop and build upon these values, tailoring them to their local needs." Keep the national wording and the employer's wording distinct in your planning notes. If the form quotes a local value, answer that wording directly. Avoid replacing it with a familiar national heading and leaving part of the question unanswered.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT's application guidance tells applicants to demonstrate all the essential criteria from the person specification in their supporting information. Read any values question alongside those criteria so that you have space for both.

Find actions that fit the value

These are the Constitution's six value headings. The action column offers prompts for recalling your own evidence; it does not add duties or scoring rules to your vacancy.

Constitution value	Action to look for in your experience	Check against the application
Working together for patients	Involving someone in a decision or passing information between colleagues	Which people did the question ask you to work with?
Respect and dignity	Listening to a person's priorities and adapting your response	What did you do after listening?
Commitment to quality of care	Using feedback to improve a task or checking an error	What quality issue did your action address?
Compassion	Responding to someone's distress with time and practical help	How did you recognise the need?
Improving lives	Making an everyday service experience better	What difference did the person experience?
Everyone counts	Helping someone take part or making better use of resources	What barrier or waste did you address?

For example, the Constitution's respect and dignity section says, "We take what others have to say seriously." In your notes, recall a time when listening changed your next action. Record what the person wanted, what you could do and how you responded. A description of yourself as respectful leaves those details unexplained.

Choose an example you can explain

Start with the value or criterion you need to evidence. Then look for an occasion when you made a choice about how to treat someone, respond to feedback or work with colleagues. Select a situation where you remember your part clearly enough to answer questions about it.

Keep the scale honest. If you corrected information in a record, describe that correction and the effect you observed. Do not turn it into a claim that you transformed a service. If several people helped, explain who did what and where your own responsibility ended.

A values example can overlap with a role criterion. Make that connection explicit where it helps answer the form, then check the remaining criteria for gaps. The essential and desirable criteria guide explains how to organise that check.

Plan an answer about respect and dignity

The following criterion is a Constitution value heading, used here as a planning exercise. Your vacancy may phrase its question differently. These prompts ask for your experience and contain no sample applicant history.

Criterion: "Respect and dignity"

• When and where: identify the setting and the person's concern or preference, without details that could identify them.
• What you did: describe how you listened, what you explained and the action you took in response to their priorities.
• What happened: record the response you observed and what you learned about handling a similar situation.

GMMH recommends STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result. You can use that sequence to organise these notes before writing your answer. Give the action enough detail for a reader to understand the connection to the value. Keep background details only when they explain your decision.

Before you submit

• Read the exact values question again and check whether you answered every part.
• Use the employer's value names accurately and keep the England Constitution's scope clear.
• Replace unsupported descriptions of your character with an action you can explain.
• Check the wider person specification for essential criteria your values example has not covered.
• Follow the form's own length instruction; see the NHS Jobs guide for that application form.

You can check the draft against your job's criteria before submitting it.