Foundation Programme (FP)

 

1. UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO)

www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk

The application process to the foundation programme is managed centrally by the UKFPO. Further information can be found on the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) website.

The 2021 Applicant Handbook is available via the UKFPO website.

 

2. 2020 Foundation Programme Local Recruitment Timeline

 

Date	Time (BST)	Activity
12 October 2020	12:00 PM	Registration via oriel 2 open
19 October 2020	09:00 AM	National Application Open
04 November 2020	12:00 PM	National Application Close
12 November 2020		Verified Educational Achievements (EA) and total Educational Performance Measure (EPM) scores viewable to applicants on Oriel.
18 February 2021	12:00 PM	Deadline for applicants to amend preference choices. You will have the option to amend the order in which you ranked foundation schools until this deadline.
11 March 2021		FP primary list allocation. Applicants informed of allocation to foundation school result. Applicants informed of allocation to reserve list.
11 March 2021	12:00 PM	London and Kent, Surrey and Sussex Foundation schools Programme Preferencing Open. Applicants allocated to South Thames Foundation School must preference their preferred group in a separate window ahead of their preferred programme as detailed below.
11 March 2021	12:00 PM	South Thames Foundation School Group Preferencing Open
17 March 2021	12:00 PM	South Thames Foundation School Group Preferencing Close
19 March 2021		London and Kent, Surrey and Sussex Foundation schools Programme Fair
22 March 2021		South Thames Foundation School Group Allocation
30 March 2021	12:00 PM	London and Kent, Surrey and Sussex Foundation schools Programme Preferencing Close.
08 April 2021		All primary list applicants will be notified of their match to programme results.
From April 2021		Reserve list batch allocations
04 August 2021		Commencement of the 2021 UK Foundation Programme

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. London and Kent, Surrey and Sussex Foundation Programme - 2020 Programme Information

 

A provisional list of programmes will be available for applicants to view on Oriel from 12th October 2020. The programme information will also be available to download from this page as an Excel spreadsheet on Monday 23rd September 2020. A definitive list of 2020 programmes will be available both on Oriel and to download from this webpage in early February 2021.

It is important to note that the NHS is constantly changing and, even after being matched to an individual programme, there may be situations when placements within that programme may change because of service redesign, working time directive regulations or national directives (UK-wide).  For this reason, all allocations are provisional and subject to change until confirmed by employing organisations.

 

RESERVE LIST CANDIDATES

PLEASE NOTE:

The programmes available for the reserve list candidates to preference can be accessed via the spreadsheets listed under the 'documents' section.  Please refer to the spreadsheet, before you preference any programmes on Oriel.

 

4. Preferencing Programme Information & Matching Process

 

If you are allocated to one of the 3 London and Kent, Surrey and Sussex foundation schools, you will be invited to preference programmes within the school you have been allocated to.

For North Central and East London Foundation School and North West London Foundation School, applicants will be invited to rank the programmes in order of preference between 11 March 2021 - 30 March 2021.

As the South Thames Foundation school has a larger number of programmes, the programmes have been clustered into groups. In this instance, applicants will be matched to programmes in two stages: -

1) Matched to a group

Applicants are required to rank the South Thames Foundation School groups in order of preference between 11 March 2021 - 17 March 2021. Applicants will be matched to groups based on their rank and group preferences on 22 March 2021.

2) Matched to a programme

Once matched to groups, applicants will be invited to rank the programmes in that group in order of preference between 22 March 2021 - 30 March 2021.

Applicants will be notified via Oriel of their match to individual programmes on 8 April 2021

IMPORTANT: applicants are advised to save preference choices regularly on the Oriel system. Failure to save group / programme preferences by the deadline will result in a random allocation to a group / programme with the most vacancies. Late preferences cannot be submitted under any circumstances.

 

Groups within South Thames Foundation School

 

Group Name	Group Description
Coast and Country	Provides 2 years in trusts in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Many programmes include a year at Brighton and Sussex University Hospital.
Continuity	Contains programmes in which both years are spent at one site or trust, or in two different but geographically close Trusts in London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex
London Link 1	All programmes include at least one year in London, mainly towards the west of the South Thames Foundation School area.
London Link 2	All programme includes at least one year in London, mainly towards the centre of the South Thames Foundation School area.
London Link 3	All programmes include at least one year in London, mainly towards the east of the South Thames Foundation School area

 

5. Decile & Quartile Score Ranges Within Each Foundation School

Decile Ranges

North Central and East London:

Decile	Score Range
1	91.101 - and above
2	90.914 - 89.861
3	89.860 - 88.924
4	88.902 - 87.944
5	87.924 - 87.167
6	87.166 - 86.439
7	86.392 - 85.671
8	85.662 - 85.050
9	85.018 - 84.455
10	84.446 and below

North West London Foundation School:

Decile	Score Range
1	91.031 and above
2	90.944 - 89.356
3	89.323 - 88.509
4	88.446 - 87.754
5	87.753 - 87.175
6	87.167 - 86.365
7	86.348 - 85.893
8	85.828 - 85.338
9	85.323 - 84.806
10	84.762 and below

South Thames Foundation School:

Decile	Score Range
1	88.104 and above
2	88.101 - 85.806
3	85.786 - 84.217
4	84.211 - 83.430
5	83.411 - 82.671
6	82.655 - 81.709
7	81.703 - 80.933
8	80.879 - 79.987
9	79.976 - 79.114
10	79.104 and below

 

Quartile Ranges

Quartile ranges are calculated for South Thames Foundation School only. 

	South Thames - Coast and Country	South Thames - Continuity CT	South Thames - London Links 1	South Thames - London Links 2	South Thames - London Links 3
Quartile 1	82.736 and above	88.101 and above	84.902 and above	84.114 and above	84.217 and above
Quartile 2	82.689 to 79.315	88.094 to 85.275	84.861 to 83.199	84.104 to 82.745	84.167 to 82.588
Quartile 3	79.294 to 78.819	85.018 to 80.592	83.166 to 81.116	82.689 to 81.546	82.555 to 81.365
Quartile 4	78.806 and below	80.579 and below	81.051 and below	81.528 and below	81.356 and below

6. Programme Fair

Due the uncertainty surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic a decision has been taken, for the wellbeing of all involved, to change the way in which we deliver the 2021 Programme Fair. Further Information will be made readily available to applicants via this webpage sin due course.  We appreciate your understanding during this time.

 

7. Shadowing Arrangements

You will be required to undertake a mandatory induction and shadowing period for a minimum of 4 days at the Trust before 04 August 2021 (Please be aware that some Trusts organise longer periods of shadowing and you are advised to be available from 26 July 2021. 

 

8. Linked Applications

 

If you have linked your application on the Oriel system and wish to retain this link at the group allocation stage (for STFS only), both applicants will need to rank the five groups in the same order of preference or the link will be broken.

WARNING: The score of the lower scoring applicant will be used to allocate both linked applicants to a group. It is only possible to break the link at this stage by both applicants ranking groups in a different order.

Linked applications are not taken into account at the programme allocation stage and your individual scores are used to allocate you to a programme.

If you both wish to be allocated to the same Trust, ranking programmes in your group in exactly the same order may increase the chances of this. However, we cannot guarantee that you will be allocated to the same Trust or programme as the applicant you are linked with, particularly if there is a significant difference in your scores.

 

9. Special Circumstances

 

A small number of F1 doctors have special circumstances approval from their graduating medical school in order to ensure allocation to a foundation school in an appropriate geographical location.

All applicants are now required to submit offline applications directly to the UKFPO team. Applications will be considered by a central panel and pre-allocations will be actioned on Oriel by UKFPO staff.

 

10. Supporting Trainees Entering Practice (STEP)

Full information on this process is available via UKFP 2021 Applicants' Handbook and the on the UKFPO website.