The School Directors

• Dr Alice Carter - Associate Dean, London Foundation School Director
• Dr Celia Bielawski - Deputy Director (North Central London)
• Dr Nick Rollitt - Deputy Director (North East London)
• Dr Fionnuala Crummy - Deputy Director (North West London)
• Dr Channa Jayasena - Academic Lead (North London)
• Dr Amelia Hughes - Deputy Director (South East London)
• Dr Mark Cottee - Deputy Director (South West London)

The School Administration Team

• Mark Bellaera - Service Delivery Manager
• Simon Rosan - Operations Manager & Foundation School Manager
• Tarek Hussain - Officer (North Central & East London trusts)
• Andrew Goodhand - Officer (North West London trusts)
• Adeola Teluwo - Officer (South London trusts)
• David Jarvis - Administrator
• Launa Broadley - Administrator
• Paige Arnold - Administrator

The Health Education Team (HET), who manage the London Foundation School, use the PGMDE Support Portal for managing all FAQs for both Trusts and Trainees across the region.

Our Most Common FAQs Topics:

Additional Training Time
Annual Review of Competency Progression (ARCP)
Changes in Circumstances
Inter-Foundation School Transfers (IFST)
Proof of Training
Training Flexibly/Less Than Full-time (LTFT)

Updated 13th September 2024

Congruent with UKFPO 2024 entry criteria

• Personal Circumstances approval for F1 doctors
• Implications for those allocated to the London Foundation School
• Late Personal Circumstances
• New applications for personal circumstances for the F2 year

Personal Circumstnaces approval for F1 doctors

The national pre-allocation (Personal Circumstances) process allows some applicants to apply to be pre-allocated to a Foundation School on the grounds of Personal Circumstances on the basis of the following criteria: 

Criterion 1: You are a parent or legal guardian of a child or children under the age of 18, who reside primarily with you or for whom you have significant caring responsibilities.

Criterion 2: Significant Caring Responsibilities (as defined by the Equality Act 2010)

Criterion 3: You have a health condition or disability for which ongoing follow up for the condition in the specified location is an absolute requirement.

Criterion 4: Extraordinary circumstances (e.g. athlete, armed forces reserves, house adapted for a disability)

Criterion 5: a) educational circumstances

                    b) widening participation

Additional information is on the Foundation Programme website

Approved personal circumstances results in applicants being pre-allocated to a specific foundation school for their foundation training, provided they meet the national allocation criteria and they complete medical school successfully.

Approval of a personal circumstances application does not guarantee allocation to a specific Trust or programme within the foundation school, although there is provision to allocate to a programme group via the national process.

An applicant pre-allocated to a foundation school on the grounds of personal circumstances will not be permitted to link their application to another individual in the application process.

Implications for those allocated to the London Foundation School

Generally foundation schools do not offer pre-allocation of specific programmes within the foundation school to those with personal circumstances.

The London FS, however, covers a wide geographical area.  In order to reduce the chance of a distant allocation, individuals pre-allocated with criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be able to preference the programme group geographically linked to their home address.

The London Foundation School includes 5 programme groups (they may cover wider geographical areas than the descriptors suggest owing to the need to make them fairly similar):

North West London

North Central London

North East London

South London West

South London East

All other applicants will be reviewed looking for a specific and overwhelming need to be offered a specific site/area e.g. F1 on dialysis.

Late Special Circumstances

Applicants who wish to change their allocated foundation programmes will only be able to do so on the basis of having approved personal circumstances, subject to their being a suitable vacancy available, or following an approved swap for the F2 year (see swaps guidance).

F1

Late applications for F1 personal circumstances will be reviewed to confirm their eligibility as soon as they are received.  

Applicants applying for late personal circumstances approval whose home address is outside the London region are encouraged to apply for a foundation school transfer to the foundation school nearest to their home address, as this would provide them with the greatest opportunity of being allocated to a location within a reasonable commute of their home address. 

If a vacancy within the nearest foundation school was not available the applicant would retain their place within London and we would endeavour to identify a vacancy at a trust within a reasonable commute, however, the London FS is unable to guarantee this.

Please refer to the foundation school transfer guidance and application form under “key documents” of the UKFPO website.

New applications for personal circumstances for the F2 year

Some F1 doctors may be eligible to apply for new personal circumstances for F2 owing to a significant change in their circumstances since starting their F1 year:

• Any changes made would be for the location of the F2 year, and would not affect the existing F1 programme.
• If F2 personal circumstances are approved, and it is agreed that the allocated trust is not within a reasonable commute, the location of the linked F2 Trust may be adjusted, subject to available programmes.
• Please note that subsequent reallocation is subject to capacity and therefore it is not always possible to provide a programme at a site within a reasonable commute.
• If you feel you need to make an application for Personal Circumstances please contact the School team here.

Change in Exceptional Circumstances

If you are due to start FY1 in August 2025, or are a current trainee due to start FY2 in August 2025, and you have experienced an exceptional change in circumstances since you applied to the foundation training programme which affects your ability to complete training in your current location, please let us know via completion of the following form: 

***Form to be made available in March/April 2025***

Please also ensure that you submit your additional supporting information via our applicant support portal here

We are only able to consider an exceptional change in circumstances that can be evidenced and will not consider any requests for programme swaps between doctors who have had no change to their personal circumstances.  

The criteria are those in the guidance for IFSTs 2024 on the UKFPO website: 

1. Parental responsibilities. 
2. Primary carer responsibilities. 
3. Medical condition or disability for which ongoing follow-up for the condition in the specified location is an absolute requirement. 
4. Unique circumstances (these must be unique, not other circumstances which do not meet the requirements for the other criteria). 

The forms are open from ***Date TBC** at 12pm and will close at 5pm on ***Date TBC*** with all submissions being reviewed by the foundation school directors shortly after.  

There are very limited numbers of alternative programmes available so it is highly unlikely we will be able to place successful applicants in their preferred alternative location, but we will do all we can to take your circumstances into account. 

Details of 2025 Group Preferencing will be published on this page shortly.

A copy of the 2024 presentation slides can be found here: 2024 LFS Group Preferencing Slides

The London Foundation School officially started August 2023, with North-West London, North Central and East London and South London combining. Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) uncoupled from South Thames to form an independent KSS Foundation School.

There is one Foundation School Director (FSD)/ Associate Dean, who works closely with 5 deputy FSDs, each aligned to a geographical area (North-West, North-Central, North-East, South-West and South-East), each also lead on a Pan-London workstream.

The London Foundation School covers a huge diverse cultural and socio- economic area giving a huge range of training opportunities for the more than 2000 Foundation doctors in the school. There are five London Integrated Care Systems (ICS): NW, NC, NE, SW and SE, overseeing 34 acute and mental health trusts, along with many General Practices. There is a wealth of experience and opportunities here and we look to welcoming you to our school. This prospectus should provide you with all the information you require when considering foundation training in London. We hope you find it useful. London Foundation School Team.

Please find our school prospectus for 2024 here: LFS 2024 Prospectus       

Each of our affiliated trusts provide us with Individual Placement Descriptors (IPDs) for each of the posts within our programmes detailing:

• Site of the job
• Main duties of the placement
• Typical working pattern
• Employer Information

The IPDs for each Trust can be accessed below:

North London Trusts

• Barts Health NHS Trust
• Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
• London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
• North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust
• Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
• The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust          
• University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Whittington Health NHS Trust

South London Trusts

• Croydon Health Services NHS Trust
• Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
• King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
• St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

London Foundation School Swapping Process (updated 19/12/24)

Introduction

The London Foundation School aims to offer flexibility to foundation doctors whilst ensuring a generic and broad training programme for all. To help achieve this, we offer the opportunity for Foundation doctors (FD) entering an F2 training programme to swap, with the window of opportunity for applications being in their F1 year. The process we offer is a Foundation doctor led swapping process, supported by the Foundation administrative team.

There are two types of swaps:

• Local Swaps: one individual placement within the same trust
• Whole Programme Swaps

For the 2024 F1 cohort, whole programme swaps will be permitted across the Pan London Region. The Pan London region includes the following sub regions: North West, North Central, North East, South West and South East London.

Foundation Doctors can either make a whole programme swap or a single local swap. You cannot apply for both whole programme swaps and local swaps.

Please note, if you wish to move from a London Foundation School to a different Foundation School this needs to be done through the national Inter-Foundation School Transfer (IFST) process. Guidance can be found on the UKFPO website: https://foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/faqs/stand-alone-faqs-ifst/

Local Swaps

This process permits foundation doctors to apply to swap a single placement in their F2 programme within the same Trust.

Application is via the form found here: Local Swap Application form link

The application form will open on 5^th February 2025.

The request must be received by the dates laid out in the timeline (see section 5). Late applications will not be accepted and there is no opportunity to appeal.

Swaps between more than two FDs are not permitted.

You do not need to be registered for whole programmes swaps to participate in a Local Swap.

FD on the specialised foundation programme (SFP) may not swap their academic placement. They may only swap one of their clinical placements.

Less Than Full Time (LTFT) and other out of sync FDs must submit a ticket ahead of applying for a local swap to be reviewed and approved by the Foundation School Director (FSD) on a case-by-case basis.

Whole Programme Swaps

This process facilitates FDs swapping their entire F2 programme within the Pan London School.

F1 doctors will notify us if they wish to put forward their entire F2 programme for swapping. They must also agree to their details being shared with others in the same position. The Foundation administration team will manage this data securely.

Once registration closes all registered FDs will be sent a copy of the registration list. Please note that in order to receive the registration list you must register with an NHS email address (ie not Hotmail, gmail etc).

It is then the FD’s responsibility to find a swapping partner and complete the appropriate paperwork.

Both FDs must be registered for whole programme swaps by the dates laid out in the key dates section below.

Swaps between more than two FDs are not permitted.

The swap application must be received by the dates laid out in the key dates section below. Registration will open on 5^th February 2025.

Late applications cannot be accepted and there is no opportunity to appeal.

LTFT and other out of sync foundation doctors must submit a ticket ahead of applying for a whole programme swap. The ticket will be reviewed by the Foundation School Director and approved on a case-by-case basis.

Ensuring Education Balance

All programmes are designed to be educationally balanced and provide exposure to a range of specialties during the two years of the programme. London guidance for maintaining educational balance is set out below.

All 2-year programmes should include a community placement and at least one acute post per year (eg. general/acute/emergency medicine).

Your two-year programme should contain no more than:

• 8 months in a surgical specialty
• 8 months in a community specialty
• 4 months in a psychiatry placement

You cannot repeat a community specialty (e.g. GP, community paediatrics) but it may be possible to repeat one medical, surgical, or other sub-specialty, depending on availability of posts.

The final approval on whether a programme is balanced is with the Foundation School Director. Where a swap is not approved, reasons why will be provided. There is no appeals process.

Swaps key dates timeline

5^th February 2025 - Whole programme swap registration opens and local swap application window opens.

12^th February 2025, 5pm - Whole programme swap registration closes.

14^th February 2025 - Swap registrant details shared with other applicants via secure data sharing method and window opens.

14th March 2025, 5pm- Swap window closes – ALL swap applications (both local and whole programme) must be received by 5pm on this date.

18th March 2025 - Applications to deputy FSDs for review.

25th March 2025 - Deputy FSDs to inform Foundation School amin team of swap decisions.

4^th April 2025 - Applicants notified of outcome.

May 2025 - Trusts notified of change via TROG (May vary from Early Snapshot).

FAQs

Why can I not swap my F1 placements?

It is important for an F1 doctor to settle into their training before deciding to swap the content of their programme. If exceptional changes are required these should be discussed locally with FTPD first.  

If my application to swap is rejected can I appeal?

No, the Foundation School Director’s decision is final and you will be given a reason for their decision.
 

Do both applicants needs to apply to swap?

No, you can identify a lead applicant and we will notify both of you of the outcome. If you have applied for a whole programme swap it is still essential that both of you have registered.
 

What is the difference between Local Swap and a Whole Programme Swap

Local swaps are for Foundation Doctors who wish to swap a single F2 placement with another F2 within the same Trust. You do not need to register for whole programme swaps to submit a local swap, just complete a Local Swap form and submit it via the support portal.

Whole programme swaps are for Foundation Doctors who wish to swap their entire F2 programme with another F2. You must register for whole programme swaps AND submit an application.
 

Can SFP apply for Local Swaps or whole programme swaps?

If you have been allocated to an SFP you are you are not eligible to enter into whole programme swaps but may apply for a local swap. Should you apply for a local swap you may only swap one of your clinical placements.
 

I have registered but my swap partner has not; can we apply to swap?

All Foundation Doctors wishing to take part in the whole programme swaps must be registered. If only one Foundation Doctor is registered and the other isn’t then the swap application will be declined. You may still apply for a local swap if one or both Foundation Doctors are not registered.
 

I missed the window for Swaps, can I submit a late application?

No, swap requests outside the dates in the timeline will not be accepted.

I’m working LTFT, can I still swap? 

Yes, ‘like for like’ swaps may be permitted (eg. swapping with another LTFT doctor), but please submit a ticket via the portal Support : PGMDE Support Portal beforehand so that circumstances can be reviewed. If approved by the Foundation School Director, you will then be asked to complete a swap application form. Please note that often LTFT timelines are adjusted pro rata and slot shares are facilitated where possible so there is already a degree of flexibility in LTFT timelines.

Please contact the admin team on 020 7866 3216 or by visiting the support portal: https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/

STEP (Supporting Trainees Entering Practice) which was previously known as Transfer of Information (TOI) is a supportive process that takes place between Medical School to F1 and between F1 to F2. All foundation doctors are encouraged to engage with the process fully to enable the Foundation School and trusts to provide support.

Medical school students will be supported by their local medical school administrative team after allocation to their Foundation School.

Foundation doctors progressing between F1 - F2  will be advised of the TOI process as part of their ARCP.

The UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) provides a central information point for medical schools, foundation schools, foundation doctors and the faculty involved in foundation training. The aim of the UKFPO is to develop and promote innovative training methods, such as e-learning and the electronic portfolio, as well as to develop and administer the recruitment and programme allocation system throughout England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Information relating to the national recruitment process for Academic, Standard, Priority Programmes, Psychiatry Fellow and Standalone Foundation programmes can all be found on the UKFPO website

For more information visit: www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk

The Horus ePortfolio is designed to help foundation doctors to evidence the competencies they have achieved. With the assistance of their educational supervisor, it will help them to plan their development and allow them to demonstrate the attainment of the attitudes, skills and knowledge that they need to complete the Foundation Programme.

Support

If you are experiencing issues using the Horus ePortfolio, please first visit the Horus support site. This has lots of frequently asked questions, which you can browse as well as search.

If you are not able to resolve your issue using the information on the support site, email the Horus Helpdesk at servicedesk.horus@hee.nhs.uk. Please give as much detail as you can, including which browser you are using and the steps you took before receiving any error message. 

Any general enquiries regarding the system, including local processes, can be directed to the  London Foundation School team: https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/home

ePortfolio Archive

In the summer of 2017 the NES ePortfolio system for Founation was replaced by Horus. All previous trainee ePortfolio's were transfered over to the FP Archive System which can be accessed here.