Opening / motivation

1. Talk us through your application — why this role, why DCH?

2. What do you know about our digital transformation programme and the EHR project?

3. What attracted you to move from financial services into healthcare?

Analytical & requirements skills (weighted 3 — expect 2-3 questions here)

4. Walk us through a time you mapped an "as-is" process and redesigned it into a "to-be"
process.
5. Tell us about a time you captured business requirements and translated them into something
a technical team could build from.
6. How do you write acceptance criteria, and how do you know when a requirement has
actually been met?
7. Describe a time you had to explain something complex to a non-technical audience and
confirm they'd understood.
8. Give an example of defining a problem before jumping to a solution — how did you avoid
solving the wrong thing?

Consensus-building & stakeholder management (weighted 3)

9. Tell us about a time you facilitated a meeting or workshop where stakeholders had conflicting
requirements or priorities.
10. Describe a situation where you had to build consensus among people who didn't initially
agree.
11. Give an example of when you had to be diplomatic about a sensitive or contentious issue.
12. How do you build relationships with stakeholders you've never worked with before?

Ambiguity & adaptability (weighted 2-3)

13. Tell us about a time requirements changed midway through a project — how did you handle
it?
14. Describe working in a situation where things weren't fully defined at the start.

Planning, organisation, initiative (weighted 3)

15. How do you prioritise when you're juggling multiple competing deadlines?
16. Tell us about a time you worked with limited supervision and had to use your own initiative.
17. What project or collaboration tools have you used, and how do you stay organised across
projects?

The gap area — healthcare systems & acute hospital processes (weighted 2, expect this
directly)
18. You don't have direct NHS or healthcare systems experience — how do you plan to get up to
speed?
19. This role can indirectly affect patient care — how would that change your approach to
requirements-gathering or testing compared to financial services?
20. What do you understand about NHS standards, patient pathways, or an EHR programme so
far?
21. How comfortable are you with the clinical/technical ambiguity described in the JD —
bringing together clinicians and technical teams who may not speak the same language?

Values-based (Integrity, Respect, Teamwork, Excellence)

22. Tell us about a time you made a mistake and how you handled it. (Integrity)
23. Describe a time you disagreed with a decision or pushed back on stakeholder preference.
(Integrity/Respect)
24. Tell us about a time you supported a colleague or helped a team member achieve their goal.
(Teamwork)
25. Give an example of when you sought out feedback or best practice to improve how you
work. (Excellence)
26. How do you adapt your communication style for different audiences — clinicians, non-
clinical staff, technical teams? (Respect)

Practical / logistical
27. This role requires being onsite in Dorchester at least 2 days a week — is that workable for
you given you're currently in Northampton?
28. Are you comfortable working across the wider Dorset Providers / HealthSet Programme if
required?
29. What questions do you have for us?

Lucy Sandell — Programme Manager (Lead)

She'll be testing programme fit, delivery discipline, and whether Sowmya can operate inside a
structured change programme, not just do BA tasks in isolation.

1. How would you keep a Programme Manager informed of progress and risks on your
workstream without me having to chase you?

2. Tell us about a time you had to escalate a risk or issue — how did you decide it needed
escalating, and what happened next?

3. How do you make sure your BA work stays aligned to the wider programme's benefits
and outcomes, not just the immediate task?
 4. Describe how you'd handle being assigned to a project for an extended period versus
picking up ad-hoc tasks in parallel.

5. How do you manage stakeholders who sit above you in seniority — clinicians, executives
— when you need something from them on a deadline?

6. What's your experience of change/release governance — CAB, sign-off, hypercare?

7. If two competing projects both needed your time this week, how would you decide
priority, and who would you tell?

Kyle Brereton — Developer

He'll be testing whether her requirements are actually usable by a technical team, and whether
she understands enough about systems to avoid asking for the impossible or missing
constraints.

8. Walk me through how you'd write a requirement so a developer could build directly
from it — what does "good" look like to you?

9. Tell us about a time a technical team pushed back on a requirement you wrote — what
happened?

10. How do you verify that what's been built actually meets the requirement, beyond just
"does it work"?

11. What's your understanding of integration, data structures, or system architecture —

enough to know what to ask a developer?

12. Have you worked with API integrations, system interfaces, or data migrations? What was
your role versus the technical team's?

13. How do you handle a situation where the business wants something that's technically
difficult or risky to build?

14. What project/collaboration tools have you used for tracking requirements against build
— how do you keep traceability?

Naomi Phillips — likely a peer BA / Digital Change or people-focused role (unconfirmed title,
worth checking if it comes up naturally)

If she's a peer BA or from the Digital Change/Training team, expect day-to-day, practical, "what's
it actually like doing this" questions. If she's from HR/People (common third panel seat in NHS
interviews), expect values and behavioural questions.
 15. Talk us through a typical week for you when you're mid-project — how do you structure
your time across workshops, documentation, and stakeholder follow-ups?

16. What process mapping tools have you used, and how do you decide the right level of
detail for as-is/to-be documentation?

17. Tell us about a time you had to run a workshop with people who didn't want to be there
or were resistant to change.

18. How do you handle it when a stakeholder gives you incomplete or contradictory
information?

19. Give an example of when you sought feedback on your own work and changed your
approach as a result.

20. Tell us about a time you disagreed with a decision — what did you do?

21. How would you describe your working style to someone who's never worked with you
before?

Cross-panel — likely asked by whoever leads that section, but worth prepping once

22. This role is band 6 and reports through the Head of Solution Architecture and Digital
Transformation — how do you see yourself fitting into a team with two other Business
Analysts already in post?

23. Given you'd be new to the NHS, how would you build credibility with clinical
stakeholders quickly?

 Standard NHS-generic opener/closer questions — these almost always come up regardless

of panel composition:

 "What are your strengths and areas for development?"

 "Where do you see yourself in 3–5 years?"

 "Why are you leaving/why did you leave your current/previous roles?" (worth having a
clean, honest line ready given her employment history spans several moves)

 "Tell us something not on your CV/application."

 Scenario/hypothetical stress-testing questions — panels often throw in one live scenario

rather than a past-tense STAR question, to see how she thinks on her feet, e.g.:

 "A clinician tells you a new process will put patients at risk, but the Programme Manager
says the deadline can't move — what do you do?"
  "Halfway through mapping a process, you realise two departments have completely
different understandings of how it currently works — what's your next step?

Revised: Naomi Phillips — Project Portfolio Manager

1. How do you make sure the requirements you capture link back to a project's intended
benefits, not just the immediate ask?

2. If you're working across two or three projects competing for the same stakeholders'
time, how do you help the portfolio prioritise?

3. Tell us about a time your work fed into a wider business case or benefits realisation
process.

4. How do you report progress and risk in a way that's useful to someone managing a
whole portfolio rather than just your project?

5. What's your experience with governance processes — RAID logs, project boards, stage
gates, sign-off?

6. If a project you're supporting starts slipping, what do you do, and at what point does it
become "portfolio's problem" rather than yours to solve alone?

7. How do you handle being pulled between multiple projects/programme managers who
all think their work is the priority?

8. Tell us about a time you identified or tracked a financial or efficiency benefit from a
change you delivered.

1. Panel Dynamic & Strategic Angle

Understanding who is sitting across the table (or on Microsoft Teams) will help you tailor your
language and answers:

 Lucy Sandell – Digital Transformation Programme Manager (Lead)

o Focus: Programme delivery timelines, risk management (RAID), benefits

realization, stakeholder alignment, and managing change.

o Strategy: Emphasize how your BA artifacts (BRDs, user stories, process maps)
directly support project plans and reduce change friction.

 Kyle Brereton – Developer

o Focus: Solution designs, functional specifications, data mapping, acceptance

criteria, edge cases, and API/integration feeds.
 o Strategy: Highlight your technical translation ability—how you write clear
functional specifications, define explicit acceptance criteria, and work with tech
teams during build/sprint reviews.

 Naomi Phillips – Project Portfolio Manager

o Focus: Priority alignment, resource efficiency, cross-project dependencies, and

governance.

o Strategy: Speak to how you handle ambiguity, prioritize competing demands, and
maintain traceability across the portfolio.

2. Key Context & Strategic Hooks

 The Big Regional Project (Healthset): Dorset and Somerset NHS Trusts have recently
signed with Epic for a unified regional Electronic Health Record (EHR) planned for rollout
in April 2028.

 Your NHS Transition: You come from a rich financial services BA background (Barclays,
FIS, Mashreq, SBI). Panel members love candidates from heavily regulated industries
because you already understand data protection, strict governance, audit trails, and
complex system integrations. Frame your domain transfer as a major asset!

3. Core Values Alignment (DCHFT "The DCH Way")

Trust Value The "DCH Way" Core Behaviour How to Reference in Your Answers

Discuss how you facilitate

Active listening, valuing differing
workshops with clinical/operational
Respect opinions, non-judgmental
staff who might be resistant to
communication.
change.

Dependability, taking ownership, Discuss handling sensitive data (IG /

Integrity admitting mistakes, strict GDPR) and taking responsibility
confidentiality. when requirements shift.

Bridge the gap between clinical

Breaking down silos, offering
Teamwork end-users and technical
support, consensus-building.
development teams.
 Trust Value The "DCH Way" Core Behaviour How to Reference in Your Answers

Continuous Highlight your track record in

Excellence improvement====learning from process redesign and reducing
feedback, driving efficiency. operational friction.

4. Expected Interview Questions & STAR Framings

NHS interviews follow structured scoring criteria (0 to 3 points per competency on the Person
Specification). Answer using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Category A: Requirements Gathering & Process Mapping

. Opening & Domain Transition

 Can you talk us through your professional background and explain what motivated you
to apply for this Digital Change Business Analyst role at Dorset County Hospital?

 How do your transferable skills and experience in heavily regulated financial

environments translate to digital transformation within an NHS acute hospital trust?

2. Requirements Engineering & Technical Handoffs (Focus: Kyle Brereton - Developer)

 How do you approach capturing both high-level business requirements and detailed
functional/technical requirements for digital solutions?

 How do you write explicit acceptance criteria (e.g., Given/When/Then), and how do you
ensure technical teams can build against them accurately?

 Can you explain how you translate complex operational/clinical needs into cohesive
solution designs for developers and system architects?

 When bridging the gap between non-technical clinical end-users and technical build
teams, how do you communicate complex concepts and verify mutual understanding?

 What experience do you have with data structures, API integration concepts, system
interfaces, or mapping data flows?

3. Process Redesign & Service Improvement

 How do you approach mapping "As-Is" operational workflows and redesigning them into
streamlined "To-Be" digital processes?

 What process mapping tools (e.g., Microsoft Visio) and service improvement
methodologies do you use when documenting complex workflows?
  Can you give an example of a bottleneck, error pattern, or inefficiency you identified
during process analysis and how you resolved it?

4. Programme, Portfolio & Ambiguity Management (Focus: Lucy Sandell & Naomi Phillips)

 Clinical and digital environments often involve shifting priorities and unclear initial
scope. How do you manage ambiguity and keep project deliverables moving forward?

 How do you prioritize your workload when managing deliverables across multiple
concurrent projects, releases, or unexpected incidents?

 How do you identify, document, and escalate risks, assumptions, issues, and
dependencies (RAID) within a digital transformation programme?

 How do you support the transition of digital solutions into operational service, including
user training, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and hypercare support?

5. Stakeholder Engagement, Workshop Facilitation & Conflict Resolution

 How do you prepare and facilitate interactive discovery workshops with multidisciplinary
stakeholders who may have differing viewpoints?

 Can you share an example of a situation where key stakeholders held conflicting
priorities or resisted a proposed digital change, and how you built consensus?

 How do you ensure active stakeholder engagement and buy-in when introducing new
digital tools that alter daily working practices for operational or clinical staff?

6. Testing, Quality Assurance & Benefits Realisation

 How do you structure User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to ensure that delivered software
or process changes meet agreed business expectations?

 What is your approach to tracking requirement traceability from discovery through to

testing and implementation?

 How do you identify, quantify, and track operational or efficiency benefits following the
delivery of a digital change initiative?

7. NHS Values, Information Governance & Governance Standards

 The Trust operates on four core values: Respect, Integrity, Teamwork, and Excellence.
Can you give an example of how you demonstrate these values in your daily work?

 How do you ensure strict adherence to Information Governance, data protection

(GDPR), and confidentiality guidelines when analyzing processes handling sensitive
patient or staff data?
 What steps do you take to stay informed about national NHS digital initiatives, data
standards (e.g., HL7, NHS Data Dictionary), and local healthcare performance targets?

1. System Integration & Interoperability (High Relevance to Clinical Systems & Developers)

 Can you explain the basic principles of system integration in an acute NHS setting,
specifically how clinical systems exchange data using protocols like HL7 (v2/v3) or FHIR
APIs?

 What is the purpose of an Interface Engine (e.g., Rhapsody or Mirth Connect) in

healthcare IT, and how does a Business Analyst document requirements for interface
mapping between two systems?

 When two disparate patient systems need to exchange data (e.g., an Emergency Care
system and a central Electronic Health Record), how do you approach mapping 'As-Is'
data fields to 'To-Be' canonical data structures?

 What is a Master Patient Index (MPI), and why is patient identity matching (such as NHS
Number validation) critical during system integration projects?

 How do event-driven integration triggers (e.g., ADT - Admission, Discharge, Transfer

messages) differ from RESTful API query-response mechanisms, and when would you
specify each?

2. Technical Documentation & Specification

 How do you structure a Functional Specification Document (FSD) or Product Backlog

Item (PBI) so that software developers have all the technical parameters they need to
begin building?

 How do you document data validation rules, field constraints, and boundary conditions
in a requirement specification (e.g., mandatory vs. optional fields, data types, string
lengths)?

 When capturing functional requirements for a digital tool or clinical screen redesign,
how do you specify non-functional requirements (NFRs) such as system performance,
latency, security, and audit logging?

 Can you walk through how you write explicit Acceptance Criteria using the Given-When-
Then (BDD) format for a technical workflow?

 How do you handle and document edge cases, error handling, and exception workflows
(e.g., what happens when an API call times out or a database submission fails)?

3. Data Architecture, SQL & Analytics

 What experience do you have querying databases using SQL to perform data analysis,
validate data quality, or verify system migration outputs?

 Can you explain the difference between INNER JOIN, LEFT OUTER JOIN, and FULL OUTER
JOIN, and provide a practical scenario where a BA would use them during analysis?

 How do you analyze raw data to identify root causes of system failure, data degradation,
or recurring L3 support incidents?

 What techniques do you use to ensure data governance, data minimization, and
anonymization/pseudonymization when mapping or analyzing datasets containing
sensitive patient information (PID)?

 How do you document data flows and entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs) when
specifying new database tables or custom fields for internally developed solutions?

4. APIs, Web Services & Technical Testing

 What is the difference between a SOAP web service and a RESTful API, and what
payload formats (JSON vs. XML) are typically associated with each?

 How would you use tools like Postman or browser developer tools to inspect API
requests, HTTP status codes (e.g., 200, 400, 401, 404, 500), and responses during
integration analysis or defect investigation?

 In an Agile delivery environment, how do you maintain requirement traceability

between user stories in JIRA, automated/manual test scripts, and final UAT sign-off?

 What steps do you take when performing gap analysis between a third-party COTS
(Commercial Off-The-Shelf) software package's out-of-the-box features and the Trust's
specific technical/clinical requirements?

 How do you approach regression testing and post-implementation verification when a

new system patch, update, or API release is introduced into a live clinical environment?

1. Clinical Safety, Risk & Information Governance

 How do you ensure that digital process changes do not introduce unintended clinical
risks or disrupt active care pathways?

 In the NHS, systems must comply with clinical safety standards (such as DCB0129 /
DCB0160). What is your understanding of the BA's role in supporting Clinical Safety
Officers (CSOs) during discovery and design?
 How do you factor Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and Information
Governance rules into your requirements gathering when dealing with sensitive Patient
Identifiable Data (PID)?

 If a clinical user requests a system workaround or customization that violates Trust

governance or data security policies, how would you handle the situation?

2. Change Management & Adoption (The "Digital Change" Aspect)

 Implementing a tool is only 20% of the effort; getting staff to adopt it is 80%. How do
you design processes that minimize user friction for busy doctors, nurses, and
administrative staff?

 How do you evaluate whether a operational team is "digitally ready" for a system
migration or workflow overhaul?

 What strategy do you use when delivering bad news to operational leads—for example,
when a requested feature or customization cannot be delivered within project scope?

 How do you work with organizational change managers or clinical champions to develop
training materials, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and user guides?

3. Trust Context & Regional Strategy

 Dorset County Hospital is moving toward a joint Electronic Health Record platform
across the region (the Healthset / Epic program). How do you ensure local business
analysis aligns with wider ICB (Integrated Care Board) standards?

 How can a Digital Change BA help the Trust achieve wider strategic goals, such as
reducing waiting lists (RTT), supporting emergency care flow, or lowering paper usage?

 How do you balance quick-win optimizations for immediate operational pressures

against long-term, multi-year digital transformation projects?

4. Scenario & Values-Based Questions (DCHFT "The DCH Way")

 Respect: Describe a time when a stakeholder was openly resistant, vocal, or hostile
toward a proposed digital change during a workshop. How did you handle it?

 Integrity: Tell us about a project where you realized early on that a deadline would be
missed, or a core requirement was fundamentally flawed. What action did you take?

 Teamwork: Give an example of a time when you had to rely heavily on non-technical
team members (e.g., ward clerks, staff nurses) to successfully complete a business
analysis activity.
 Excellence: Can you describe a scenario where you received critical feedback on your
deliverables (e.g., a process map or specification document) and how you applied that
feedback to improve the final outcome?

1. Operational NHS Scenarios & Clinical Pathways

 Patient Flow & EHR: Dorset County Hospital relies heavily on smooth patient flow
between Emergency, Inpatient Wards, and Outpatient Clinics. If you are asked to map a
pathway for a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) module (e.g., Electronic Prescribing or
Clinical Documentation), how would you ensure you capture variations between
different clinical departments?

 Clinical End-User Time Constraints: Doctors and nurses operate in high-pressure

environments with very limited time for meetings. How do you gather detailed
requirements from clinical staff without disrupting active patient care?

 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): When a new digital workflow replaces a paper-
based process, how do you ensure that SOPs, local guidance, and training materials are
updated and embedded effectively across operational teams?

2. Agile vs. Waterfall & Delivery Mechanics

 Methodology Adaptation: The Digital Transformation team uses various delivery

frameworks (Agile/Scrum, hybrid, Waterfall) depending on the project. How do you
adapt your business analysis documentation (e.g., BRDs vs. User Stories/Epic Backlogs in
JIRA) depending on the project methodology?

 Backlog Grooming & Prioritization: In an Agile release cycle, how do you work with a
Project Portfolio Manager (like Naomi) or Product Owner to prioritize backlog items
based on clinical value, operational urgency, and technical effort?

 Sprint / Release Sign-off: During a sprint review or release cycle, what steps do you take
when a developer (like Kyle) delivers a feature that meets technical specifications but
doesn't quite fulfill the operational intent of the end-user?

3. Data Governance & Information Assurance (Focus: Digital Services)

 DPIA & Caldicott Principles: The NHS operates under strict Caldicott Principles regarding
patient confidentiality. How do you identify when a digital change requires a Data
Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) or Information Assurance review?

 Data Quality & Reporting: Inaccurate data entry by operational staff impacts statutory
reporting (like SUS and ECDS). How do you design system validation rules and user
interfaces that minimize human data entry errors?
 Audit Trails: What functional requirements would you specify to ensure a clinical system
maintains a robust, tamper-evident audit trail for data access and changes?

4. Personal Application & Resume-Specific Questions (Your Experience)

 Transferring Commercial / Financial Experience: "You have a strong track record at

Barclays, FIS, Mashreq, and SBI managing complex platform changes, compliance
workflows, and digital onboarding. What is the single biggest lesson from commercial
financial services that you will bring to our NHS Digital Transformation Service?"

 Complex Stakeholder Consensus: "In your application, you mentioned facilitating the
Universal Landing Page initiative at Barclays, where stakeholders initially wanted
separate role-based pages. How would you apply that same consensus-building
approach when different hospital departments demand customized system templates?"

 Managing Multiple Priorities: "As a Band 6 BA, you might be managing UAT for one
project, mapping processes for a second, and analyzing L3 incidents for a third. How do
you organize your work to ensure tight project deadlines are met without sacrificing
quality?"

5. Panel Quick-Fire Scenarios

 "What is your favourite process mapping tool, and how do you decide how deep to go
when drawing a process diagram (e.g., Level 1 high-level flow vs. Level 3 granular task
level)?"

 "If a project lead asks you to skip User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to meet a hard go-live
deadline, how do you respond?"

 "What does 'Success' look like to you 6 months into this role at Dorset County Hospital?

NHS Constitution & Values — near-universal in NHS interviews

1. What do you understand about the NHS Constitution, and how does it relate to your
role?

2. How would you make sure your work as a Business Analyst ultimately benefits patients,
even though you have no direct patient contact?

3. Tell us about a time you had to balance competing priorities between speed, cost, and
quality — how did you decide?

4. The NHS operates under significant public scrutiny and financial pressure — how do you
factor that into how you approach your work?
 Generic NHS-pattern closers (come up almost every time, worth having ready)

5. What are your key strengths, and what's an area you're actively working to develop?

6. Why are you leaving Barclays, and what's drawing you to this specific move into the
NHS?

7. Where do you see your career in 3–5 years?

8. Tell us something about your experience that isn't obvious from your application form.

9. What questions do you have for us? (always comes last — have 2-3 genuine ones ready,
not generic ones)

Confidentiality / information governance — standard in any NHS digital role

10. How do you handle confidential or sensitive information in your current role, and how
would that change working with patient-related data?

11. What's your understanding of data protection principles as they'd apply to a digital
change project touching patient systems?

Scenario/hypothetical stress-tests (panels often insert 1-2 of these instead of pure

past-tense STAR questions)

12. A clinician tells you a proposed process change could put patient safety at risk, but the
deadline can't move — what do you do?

13. You're mapping a process and two departments describe the current "as-is" completely
differently — what's your first step?

14. You've been asked to lead a workshop with people who are resistant to the change
you're introducing — how do you approach it?

Team/fit questions specific to joining an established team

15. There are already two Business Analysts in this team — how do you see yourself building
relationships and finding your place alongside them?

16. How would you build credibility quickly with clinical and technical stakeholders as
someone new to the NHS?

Process mapping & documentation technique

1. What notation or method do you use for process mapping — BPMN, swimlane,
flowcharts? Why that choice?
2. How do you decide the right level of detail for an as-is process map — too much detail
versus too little?

3. How do you handle a process that varies significantly depending on who's doing it or
which site it's done at?

4. What's the difference between a Business Requirements Document, a Functional

Specification, and a user story — when do you use each?

5. How do you write a requirement so it's testable, not just descriptive?

6. Tell us about a time your acceptance criteria caught a problem before it reached build.

7. How do you keep requirements traceable from initial capture through to delivered
solution?

Digital transformation & change delivery specifically

8. What's your understanding of the difference between digitising a process and genuinely
redesigning it?

9. How do you avoid simply replicating a poor paper-based or legacy process in a new
digital system?

10. Tell us about a time a digital solution didn't get adopted the way it was intended — what
went wrong, and what would you do differently?

11. How do you approach a digital change project where staff are anxious about job impact
or ways of working changing?

12. What's your role in supporting the transition of a new solution into live service —
training, SOPs, hypercare?

13. How do you identify and write a Standard Operating Procedure alongside a new digital
process?

14. How would you approach identifying benefits of a digital change before it's built, so they
can actually be measured afterward?

Systems, integration & technical literacy (echoes Kyle's likely angle, but broader)

15. What's your understanding of how systems typically integrate — APIs, interfaces, data
feeds?

16. If a new system needs to exchange data with an existing legacy system, what would you
want to understand before writing requirements?
17. How do you approach requirements when a solution needs to work across multiple
existing systems rather than one?

18. What do you do when a proposed solution design doesn't match what the business
actually needs, even though it's technically sound?

19. How do you verify a solution once it's built — what does your testing/verification
process typically look like?

Working across clinical/operational and technical divides (JD-specific — "bring experts

together")

20. How would you run a workshop that includes both clinicians and developers, who use
completely different language for the same problem?

21. Tell us about a time you translated a technical constraint into terms a non-technical
stakeholder could understand and act on.

22. How do you handle a situation where the operational team wants one thing and the
technical team says it's not feasible?

23. What would you do if, partway through requirements gathering, you realised the original
problem statement was wrong?

Prioritisation & backlog-style questions

24. How do you prioritise a backlog of requirements or change requests when everything is
labelled "urgent"?

25. Tell us about a time you had to say no, or push back on scope, to protect a deadline or
quality.

26. How do you handle scope creep during a project?

Risk & issue management specific to change delivery

27. Tell us about a risk you identified early in a project that, if missed, would have caused
problems later.

28. How do you decide whether an issue needs escalating versus something you resolve
yourself?

29. What's an example of a mitigation you proposed for a risk in a change project?

That's a strong, complete craft-level set now covering the actual mechanics of the role —
process mapping technique, digital transformation thinking, systems/integration literacy,
cross-discipline translation, and delivery risk. Combined with the earlier panel-specific,
 values, and NHS-generic lists, the question bank is genuinely comprehensive at this
point.

Given how much material now exists across all the lists, it might be worth consolidating
everything into one structured document she can actually revise from, rather than
scrolling through several chat responses. Want me to pull it all together into a single
prep document?

Good news first: I checked the Healthset/Epic detail in your notes, and it's accurate —
confirmed across multiple NHS sources. Four trusts (Dorset County Hospital, Dorset
HealthCare, University Hospitals Dorset, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust) signed a
£222m contract with Epic in March 2026, with implementation beginning summer 2026
and a "big bang" go-live planned for April 2028. That's a genuinely strong thing to
reference — showing she knows the specific programme name, scale, and timeline will
land well, especially with Lucy and Naomi.

Nothing is missing. Your notes actually go further than what we'd covered — they add
real value in a few places:

 DCB0129/DCB0160 (NHS clinical safety standards for health IT systems) — genuinely

worth knowing at a high level. This maps directly to the JD's "Responsibility for Patients"
section and is a sharp, specific thing to mention if patient safety comes up. Good
addition.

 Caldicott Principles / DPIA framing tied to when a digital change actually triggers a
review — useful and appropriately scoped.

 The panel-specific strategic framing table (who focuses on what, how to angle
language) is a nice organisational layer on top of what we built.

One thing worth flagging, though — calibration risk on the deep technical section. The
block covering HL7 v2/v3 vs FHIR APIs, Interface Engines (Rhapsody/Mirth Connect),
MPI, ADT messages, SOAP vs REST payload formats, Postman, SQL joins
(INNER/LEFT/FULL OUTER), and ERDs is real content, but it's pitched well above what a
Band 6 Digital Change BA person spec actually asks for — the spec wants "a general and
broad grasp of technical concepts," not hands-on interface engineering or SQL query-
writing. Two risks if she goes into the interview loaded with this:

1. It doesn't match her genuine experience level, and Kyle (the developer on the panel) will
likely notice quickly if she's reciting terms rather than demonstrating working
understanding — which risks looking exactly like the AI-generated over-reliance the
Trust's own job advert explicitly warned against.
 2. Time spent memorising SOAP-vs-REST payload formats is time not spent making her five
or six real stories rock solid — which is what will actually carry the interview.

My honest recommendation: keep DCB0129/0160, Caldicott/DPIA, and the

Healthset/Epic detail — those are well-calibrated and verified. Treat the deep technical
block as background reading only, enough that a term like HL7 or FHIR doesn't cause a
blank stare if Kyle mentions it in passing, but not something to actively prepare talking
points for. Confident, honest "I understand the concept but haven't worked with those
specific standards" beats fluent-sounding jargon she can't back up under a follow-up
question.

MoSCoW & requirements prioritisation

1. What prioritisation techniques have you used for requirements — have you used
MoSCoW specifically?

2. How would you decide what's a "Must Have" versus a "Should Have" when a stakeholder
insists everything is critical?

3. Tell us about a time you had to move something from "Must Have" to "Could Have" or
"Won't Have" — how did that conversation go with the stakeholder?

4. How do you keep a MoSCoW-prioritised list honest over time, when priorities naturally
drift as a project progresses?

5. In a fixed-timescale, fixed-budget NHS digital project, how would you use MoSCoW to
protect the deadline without cutting things that matter clinically?

6. How do you handle disagreement between stakeholders about whether something is a

"Must" or a "Should"?

JIRA & backlog management

7. Walk us through how you structure a JIRA backlog — epics, stories, tasks — for a digital
change project.

8. How do you write a user story in JIRA so both business and technical teams understand
it the same way?

9. How do you use JIRA to maintain traceability from a requirement through to testing and
defect resolution?
 10. Tell us about your experience with backlog grooming or refinement sessions — what's
your role in them?

11. How do you track and prioritise defects raised during UAT in JIRA, and how do you
decide severity/priority?

12. Have you used JIRA dashboards or reporting to keep a Programme Manager or Portfolio
Manager informed of progress?

13. How do you handle a JIRA backlog that's grown unmanageable, with duplicate or stale
items?

14. What's the difference in how you'd use JIRA on an Agile/Scrum project versus a more
Waterfall-style change?

Change management models (nothing on this yet — surprising given the role title)

1. What change management models or frameworks are you familiar with — e.g., ADKAR,
Kotter's 8-step?

2. How do you assess whether an organisation or team is genuinely ready for a change,
versus just being told it's happening?

3. How do you handle change fatigue in a team that's been through multiple digital
changes recently?

Third-party / vendor / supplier management (relevant given her Barclays vendor-risk

background)

4. How do you manage requirements and change delivery when a third-party supplier or
vendor is involved, rather than an in-house technical team?

5. Given your ProcessUnity experience, how would that translate to working with a vendor
like Epic on the Healthset programme?

6. How do you handle it when a vendor's out-of-the-box solution doesn't match what the
Trust actually needs?

Equality, diversity & digital accessibility (NHS-specific and often asked given Equality Act
duties)

7. How do you ensure a new digital process or tool doesn't disadvantage certain staff or
patient groups — for example, accessibility needs or digital literacy differences?

8. What would you consider when redesigning a process that affects both digitally
confident and less digitally confident staff?
Security awareness (worth flagging — came up as a specific development area in Rahul's own
NHS interview feedback, so worth being deliberate about covering it for Sowmya too)

9. How do you factor security into requirements gathering for a system that will hold
patient-identifiable data?

10. What would you do if you noticed a proposed process created a potential security gap,
even if no one else had raised it?

Wider NHS system knowledge

11. What's your understanding of how DCH fits within the wider Integrated Care System /
Integrated Care Board structure?

12. How does digital change at trust level need to align with regional or national NHS digital
strategy?

Post-implementation & failure reflection (distinct from the "mistake" question — this is about
a project, not a personal error)

13. Tell us about a project or change initiative that didn't deliver the results expected —
what did you learn, and what would you do differently?

14. How do you run a lessons-learned or post-implementation review, and what do you do
with the findings?

Training & knowledge transfer (JD explicitly mentions this — "regularly conduct training in the
use of new solutions")

1. What's your experience delivering or supporting training for end users on a new system?

2. How do you design training that works for staff with very different starting levels of
digital confidence?

Budget awareness (JD: no direct budget responsibility, but "required to work to budgets")

3. Even without direct budget ownership, how do you stay mindful of cost or resource
constraints when scoping requirements?

Specific EHR/clinical module scenario

4. If asked to gather requirements for a new Electronic Prescribing module, what would
your first few steps look like?