NHS Band 4 Supporting Statement: Example and Tips

Band 4 is the most senior support band. The panel is looking for someone who can work with more independence, take responsibility for their own work, and help to supervise and teach others.

What Band 4 roles involve

Band 4 includes assistant practitioners and many other senior support roles, such as some pharmacy, dental and therapy roles. Typically you will carry out a wider range of tasks with less direct supervision, sometimes manage a small caseload delegated by a registered professional, and support Band 2 and 3 colleagues.

Some Band 4 roles need a specific qualification or professional registration. Check the person specification carefully: if one is essential, make it easy to find in your statement.

What the person specification usually asks for

• A Level 4 or 5 qualification (for example a foundation degree), or working towards one
• Significant experience in a relevant healthcare setting
• A wide range of clinical or technical skills for the area
• Working on your own initiative within agreed limits
• Supervising, teaching or assessing other staff
• Prioritising and managing your own workload

What makes a Band 4 statement stand out

• Responsibility. Show decisions you made yourself, not just tasks you were given.
• Accountability and delegation. Show you understand what can be delegated to you, what can’t, and when to refer back to the registered professional.
• Teaching others. Give an example of training, supervising or assessing a colleague.
• Improvement. If you helped change a process, a checklist or a way of working, include it, with the result.

Example paragraph

Here is a STAR example for “Experience of supervising and supporting junior staff”. It is an example only, so use your own experience.

“As a senior healthcare support worker in a community team, I was asked to help two new Band 2 colleagues complete their induction. I arranged for each of them to shadow me on visits for their first fortnight, then watched them carry out tasks before signing off their competencies. When one of them was unsure about recording, I created a simple example sheet based on our documentation standards. Both completed their induction on time, and our team lead asked me to share the sheet with the wider team.”

It shows supervision, judgement and a lasting improvement, which is exactly the step up a Band 4 panel wants to see.

Tips for Band 4 applications

• Lead with your qualification if it is essential, including the expected completion date if you are still studying.
• Be specific about your skills and the setting you used them in.
• Show judgement. Panels want to see you know when to act and when to escalate.
• Use numbers where you can: caseload size, how many people you supervised, how often.
• Link to the values through your examples.

Other guides

See the Band 3 guide if you are not yet at Band 4 level. For the basics of applying on Trac, read how to write an NHS supporting statement on Trac. Applying for an admin role instead? See my NHS admin supporting statement guide.