tissue viability clinical nurse specialist

Hi @roo, welcome to the forum. For a Tissue Viability Clinical Nurse Specialist interview, they’ll assess clinical judgement, leadership, education, and how you improve outcomes across the service (not just your wound knowledge).

To help me give you the best advice is this for the NHS? And is it acute, community, or mixed?

Richard

Good morning Richard, thank you for responding. The role is within the NHS ( I already work for the NHS as a operational lead). The work will predominantly be hospital based with some community assessments required. Kind regards, Rachel

Hi Rachel, thanks for confirming. Hospital-based with some community work means they’ll want you strong on complex wound care, pressure ulcer prevention, and also leadership across wards and discharge pathways.

Quick questions, is the post Band 6 or Band 7?

In the meantime, here are the most likely interview questions to prepare for based on what I've seen oher asked. Don’t write perfect answers yet, just draft bullet points.

Clinical and decision-making

• Talk me through your wound assessment approach and how you choose a dressing plan

• How do you prevent and manage pressure damage on an acute ward?

• What would you do if you suspect wound infection or sepsis risk?

• How do you assess and manage lower limb ulcers and decide if compression is appropriate?

• How would you manage a deteriorating wound where the current plan is not working?

Governance and quality

• Describe a time you managed a pressure ulcer incident and what you did afterwards (Datix, RCA, learning)

• How do you ensure documentation and skin assessment standards are met across wards?

• How do you manage risk when staffing pressures impact repositioning and prevention?

Leadership and influencing

• How do you educate and upskill ward staff and ensure competency is sustained?

• Tell us about a time you influenced a difficult stakeholder to improve practice

• How do you prioritise your workload when you receive multiple referrals?

Service improvement

• Give an example of an audit or improvement project you led and the outcome

• How would you reduce hospital-acquired pressure ulcers in the first 3 months?

Patient-centred care

• How do you support patients with pain, dignity, and concordance with treatment plans?

• How do you work with families and the MDT, especially for discharge into the community?

If you reply with the Band and pick the 3 questions you feel least confident on, I’ll help you build strong, interview-ready bullet point answers 🙂

Richard