The IMT Clinical Station and the One-Minute Handover (2027)

The Internal Medicine Training (IMT) clinical station is Station 2 of the interview: one clinical scenario of up to ten minutes covering investigations, diagnosis and management, followed by a one-minute handover of the patient. Two interviewers score the clinical area (weighted 1.2), communication (weighted 1.6) and the handover (weighted 0.8), together 36 of the 96 marks, or 38% of the interview.

Reviewed and updated 11 September 2026. Every date, score and price below carries the year it belongs to, and the 2027 IMT pages are due from the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office in autumn 2026.

The timings and weightings below are the 2026 position published by the IMT recruitment office, which expects the 2027 process to be "largely unchanged" and will publish the 2027 detail in autumn 2026.

Key takeaways

• Station 2 is 11 minutes: a clinical scenario of up to ten minutes and a one-minute patient handover.
• Three areas are scored 1 to 5 by both interviewers: clinical investigations, diagnosis and management (x1.2), communication (x1.6) and handover (x0.8).
• Communication is worth 16 weighted marks against 12 for the clinical content; how you reason aloud matters more than the diagnosis.
• The handover carries the lowest weighting in the interview, 8 marks, but a 1 in it makes you not appointable.
• Notes may be taken during the scenario and must be destroyed once the interview ends.
• The standard is a competent F2 starting IMT: assessment, differential, investigations, management, escalation.

What is the IMT clinical station?

The IMT clinical station is an 11-minute online station in which two interviewers present one acute medical scenario, question you for up to ten minutes on investigations, diagnosis and management, and then ask for a one-minute handover.

The clinical scenario is a presentation of the kind an F2 or IMT1 meets on a medical take: a deteriorating ward patient, an acute admission, or a result that needs acting on.

The IMT recruitment office states that candidates may take notes during the clinical scenario but that these "must be destroyed as soon as your interview has been completed".

How is the IMT clinical station scored?

The IMT clinical station is scored on three areas, each marked 1 to 5 by both interviewers: the clinical area weighted 1.2, communication weighted 1.6, and the handover weighted 0.8, for a station maximum of 36 weighted marks.

A 3 in each area is satisfactory, the level expected of a competent F2. However, the appointability rules apply here as everywhere: no 1s, no more than two 2s across the whole interview, and a raw score of 42 or above.

How do you structure an IMT clinical scenario answer?

Structure the answer as immediate assessment, differential, targeted investigations, management, and explicit escalation, saying at each step what you would do and why.

1. Safety first: an ABCDE assessment with the NEWS2 score, and what would make you call for help now.
2. Focused history and examination: the three findings that separate your top differentials.
3. Differential: the most likely diagnosis, the most dangerous, and one you would not want to miss.
4. Investigations: bedside, bloods, imaging, each tied to a differential rather than listed.
5. Management: the first hour, the guideline you are following, and what you will reassess.
6. Escalation: who you call, when, and what you tell them.

NEWS2 is the Royal College of Physicians' National Early Warning Score, the standard aggregate of six vital signs that triggers escalation on UK medical wards. Naming the score and the threshold is expected, not impressive.

Which presentations come up in the IMT clinical station?

The IMT recruitment office does not publish a list of scenarios. The acute medical presentations an IMT1 manages on take are the sensible preparation set, and our knowledge library covers the first four in depth.

• Sepsis and the deteriorating patient: sepsis and NEWS2
• Acute kidney injury: AKI staging, causes and management
• Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding: risk scores, resuscitation and endoscopy timing
• Diabetic ketoacidosis: diagnosis and fixed-rate insulin
• Acute coronary syndrome, atrial fibrillation, pulmonary embolism, asthma and COPD exacerbations, pneumonia, stroke, meningitis
• Hyponatraemia, hyperkalaemia, hypercalcaemia, anaphylaxis, alcohol withdrawal, paracetamol overdose, seizure and delirium

The internalmedicineinterview bank's clinical section holds 42 scenarios and 304 questions across these presentations, each with a model answer at the level the interviewers expect.

What is the one-minute handover in the IMT interview?

The one-minute handover is the final part of Station 2, in which you hand the scenario's patient over to a colleague in 60 seconds, and it is scored 1 to 5 by both interviewers at a weighting of 0.8.

SBAR is the structured handover format of situation, background, assessment and recommendation, and NHS England's improvement resources describe it as the standard tool for clinical handover.

The handover is the lowest-weighted area in the interview at 8 of 96 marks, or 8%. That said, it is the easiest place to score a 1 by rambling, and one 1 makes you not appointable.

What does an SBAR handover look like in one minute?

A one-minute SBAR handover is four sentences of about 15 seconds each, opening with the patient's name, age and the problem, and ending with a specific request and a review time.

Say the request. The most common failure in practice is a handover that describes the patient beautifully and asks for nothing.

What are the notes and conduct rules in Station 2?

The rules in Station 2 are the same as the rest of the IMT interview: no AI tools of any kind, no one else in the room, no reference materials, camera and microphone on, and notes destroyed afterwards.

The IMT recruitment office states that "the use of AI technologies, including but not limited to AI generated responses, virtual assistants, real-time transcription tools, and automated scripts, will not be permitted", with disqualification for use.

In practice, write the SBAR headings on your note paper as the scenario unfolds so the handover is already drafted when it is asked for.

What loses marks in the IMT clinical station?

The marks lost in the clinical station come from listing investigations without reasoning, skipping the escalation step, silence while thinking, and a handover with no recommendation.

• A list instead of a rationale: "FBC, U&E, CRP, LFTs" scores less than "a lactate and a gas, because I am worried about sepsis".
• No escalation: naming when you call the registrar and what you say is part of the clinical mark.
• Silence: communication is weighted 1.6; think aloud in structured sentences.
• Guideline vagueness: name the guideline you are following where you know it.
• A handover with no ask: the recommendation is the point of SBAR.

How should you practise the IMT clinical station and handover?

Practise the clinical station by talking through one acute scenario a day to a ten-minute clock, then handing the same patient over in 60 seconds, and recording both.

1. Pick a presentation from the list above and speak the six-step structure aloud.
2. Stop at ten minutes whatever stage you have reached; the interviewers will.
3. Deliver the SBAR handover to a timer and check that it ends with a request.
4. Ask a registrar to listen once a week and mark you 1 to 5 on the three areas.
5. Use a marked tool between sessions. internalmedicineinterview's AI-marked spoken practice, £97 to the interview week, scores recorded answers against the published areas across 361 questions.

Station 1, the presentation and the ethics scenario, is covered in our presentation guide and ethics guide.