Skip to content
The Interview Bank
Menu
InterviewsSpecialty TrainingNational specialty recruitment interviewsClinical Fellow & Trust GradeLocally employed and fellowship postsConsultantConsultant appointment preparationFree toolsPortfolio & readinessThe MSRA BankResourcesHow it worksSign inExplore interviews

NHS Consultant · People

Conflict and difficult-colleague questions

Diagnose the problem, protect safety, speak respectfully and use formal routes when the risk or repeated behaviour requires them.

Last verified: 28 September 2026Parent guide: NHS Consultant

Use current GMC standards and the employer's policies. A hypothetical answer cannot predetermine facts, sanctions or occupational-health conclusions.

ContentsHow to approach it

How to approach it

What a strong answer needs to show

Clarify what kind of problem this is

A clinical disagreement, one-off incivility, repeated conduct issue, health concern and capability problem require different responses.

  • Establish specific observed behaviour and immediate patient or staff risk.
  • Consider workload, system factors and the colleague's perspective without excusing harm.
  • Avoid labels such as difficult, bullying or impaired before facts support them.

Use direct conversation when safe

Many issues benefit from timely, private and behaviour-focused discussion.

  • Describe the observation and impact, then listen.
  • Agree the required change, support and follow-up.
  • Do not attempt informal resolution where serious safety, harassment or power imbalance requires formal action.

Escalate and follow through

Consultants must know when concern exceeds collegial conversation.

  • Use clinical leadership, HR, occupational health, safeguarding, responsible-officer or regulatory routes as appropriate.
  • Document facts and decisions proportionately.
  • Protect people who speak up and check whether the risk and team impact improve.

In-depth consultant teaching · source review 11 October 2026

Reason through the interview challenge

Discriminate normal disagreement from bullying, impaired performance and immediate safety threats—and select proportionate action.

Scope: UK-wide GMC professional duties; local employment and reporting pathways differ.

Classify the problem before reaching for mediation

A disagreement about referral thresholds between two consultant teams is different from repeated belittling of a junior colleague or a clinician whose behaviour puts patients at immediate risk. The first may benefit from joint guideline review and audit; the second requires attention to staff welfare, fairness and relevant management processes; the third requires prompt safety action and escalation.

Do not frame every conflict as two equally reasonable personalities who merely need better communication. Listen carefully, gather specific observable facts and ensure no patient or colleague is exposed to further harm while the issues are clarified.

What to establish

  • Identify immediate clinical risk and any power imbalance.
  • Distinguish uncertainty, performance concern, misconduct allegation and system design problem.

Have a direct conversation when it is safe and appropriate

For a non-urgent professional disagreement, choose a private, timely conversation. Describe the observed behaviour or clinical process, its effect and the shared objective. Invite the colleague's account without conceding a patient-safety requirement. Agree a concrete next step, ownership and review time rather than relying on 'we will communicate better'.

If concerns involve discrimination, retaliation, violence, safeguarding or serious impairment, informal conversation may be inadequate or unsafe. Use relevant Freedom to Speak Up, managerial, occupational health or professional escalation routes. Protect confidentiality and avoid making public findings about someone else's conduct.

A consultant must sometimes make or escalate a contested decision

Consensus is not always possible. If patient care is at risk, apply the clinical standards and organisational escalation system promptly. If the issue is a pathway redesign, clarify decision authority and record unresolved risks. A fair process explains why the final choice was made and how it will be reviewed.

Reflection should address the candidate's contribution to the conflict, including whether they invited feedback, gave sufficient notice or underestimated the other team's workload. Self-examination is not the same as taking blame for another person's harmful conduct.

Apply the teaching

Repeatedly dismissive behaviour towards a trainee

Several registrars report that a respected consultant humiliates them during handover and they avoid calling for advice. There has not yet been a documented patient injury.

Work through the decision, trade-offs and next steps using the source-led teaching above. The paid Consultant Core Preparation plan provides more structured answers and explained follow-ups. This public article remains a complete teaching guide.

Common failure: Advising trainees simply to 'build resilience' or treating the lack of documented patient harm as reassurance.

Test your understanding

How would you manage a difficult senior colleague whose behaviour affects trainees?

Try a concise answer using the evidence and safeguards covered in this article. Identify what you would need to verify locally.

Primary sources for further reading

Original practice questions

Questions worth practising aloud

These are original preparation prompts written around published domains and entry-level expectations. They are not recalled interview questions.

  1. A senior colleague repeatedly undermines a trainee in meetings. How would you respond?
  2. You disagree with another consultant about a high-risk patient's management. What happens next?
  3. A colleague appears unwell and their performance has changed. What would you do?
  4. Two professional groups blame each other for a recurring pathway delay. How would you lead the response?
  5. A colleague asks you not to document a concern because it may damage their career. How do you proceed?

Common mistakes

Where otherwise good answers lose clarity

  • Calling every disagreement a conduct problem.
  • Escalating immediately without facts when a direct conversation is safe.
  • Keeping a serious risk informal to preserve collegiality.
  • Diagnosing a colleague's health or promising confidentiality you cannot maintain.
  • Handing the issue to HR and assuming consultant responsibility has ended.

Preparation plan

How to practise this deliberately

  • Prepare one conflict example with your words, decision and follow-up.
  • Review GMC raising-concerns and leadership guidance.
  • Practise distinguishing behaviour, impact, risk and inference.
  • Name local routes without using acronyms as a substitute for action.
  • Ask mock interviewers to add hierarchy, discrimination or urgent patient risk.

Continue into practice

Practise the answer, not just the reading

Spoken NHS Consultant practice is launching soon. At launch, choose a Question bank prompt, work on your answer and use structured feedback to improve it. Explore the practice experience while you prepare with these free questions.

Explore NHS Consultant practice

Official source

Check the live recruitment guidance

Interview formats can change between cycles. This focused guide should be used alongside the official source below and the full NHS Consultant guide.

Found this guide useful? Share it with a colleague.