Foundation Programme
Applying to the Foundation Programme (FP)
The FP is a 2 year job where you rotate through six, 4-monthly clinical blocks with a mix of medicine, surgery and community specialities. In this post, let’s take a closer look at the application process, points system and some FAQs.
Everyone who applies using Oriel is enrolled into the FP as a baseline, regardless of what other programme you actually want. For example, you cannot just apply for the Academic Foundation Programme (AFP). You will have the normal FP application and then on top of that, you have to create a separate AFP application (more on the AFP later).
For the FP application process, you have to answer a whole load of questions and declarations, some of which are automatically populated and most of which are just tick-box. Then you need to upload your exam transcript from previous years and your degree certificate if you happen to have any previous additional degrees like a BSc, BA, MA, PhD etc. You also input PubMed ID and information of any publications you have (upto 2).
Then, for the FP, the system works by asking you to rank areas in the country you want to work in. The areas are termed deaneries and there are 20 of them which you rank from 1st choice to 20th. You do this around October time. But you actually have until February to change the order and play around with it. Around March time you get told, which deanery (location) you’ve been allocated to and then are asked to rank jobs within this location either in 1 or 2 stages. Some large deaneries ask you to rank trusts within deaneries first. Then you get allocated to a trust and then choose specific jobs within them. This is a 2-stage system. Other deaneries just do a 1-stage system and you straight-up have to rank almost 200 jobs at once.
Now, when I say “jobs”. This refers to what rotations you’re going to be doing in F1 and F2. Typically, this is split into 3 blocks per year, so you have 6 blocks rotating through different aspects of medicine and surgery over the 2 years. Now, these come in loads of different orders and types of placements, but typically consists of 1 year in a big hospital and 1 year in a smaller district general hospital (DGH), and 1 placement will be a “community placement” like GP or Psychiatry etc.
As an example job:
F1
Block 1= 4 months Acute Medicine
Block 2= 4 months Anaesthetics
Block 3= 4 months Plastic Surgery
F2
Block 4= GP
Block 5=O&G
Block 6=Geriatrics
This variety means you can rank the jobs with the rotations that you most want high up, and rank the ones that are not so good for you, lower down.
Then around April time, you get told what job you have been allocated to for the next 2 years. And to be honest, that’s about it. Here’s how the points system works.
The Points System for Foundation Programme (FP)
Unfortunately, spaces are limited, so everything is a competition and the person with the highest points will get that spot. Here’s how the scoring works.
You can get a maximum of 100 points. 50 of which comes from the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) and the remaining 50 comes from the Educational Performance Measure (EPM), which is broken down into:
Medical School Decile Score (maximum 43 points; i.e. 1st decile (top 10%) get 43 points, 2nd decile gets 42, 3rd get 41 etc.)
Extra degrees (maximum 5 points; i.e. 5 for a PhD, 4 for a first in your intercalation year, 3 for 2:1 etc.)
Publications (maximum 2 points; 1 publication (in a peer-reviewed journal with a PubMed ID) = 1 point and you can have a maximum of 2).
FAQs about the Foundation Programme
How to increase the chance of getting into London deanery?
One way is to make sure you boss the situational judgement test (SJT), which mainly comes from practicing official past paper available on the UKFPO website and learning the GMC Good Medical Practice really well. The other route is to make sure you’ve optimised your EPM. Firstly, try to improve your decile ranking within universities by performing better at your uni exams. Take up the option to intercalate and do a degree in your third year. And finally, get involved with research at least to some extent and push for publications. Check out the Guidance tab for more information on all of this.
Impact on deciles due to COVID-19?
Likely that performance from your other years will be weighted more than normal to arrive at your EPM score. Best to check with your own specific university.
Are people from top unis disadvantaged?
The argument has always been a bit self-righteous. People who go to “better” universities suggest that if their rank is 3rddecile right now, it would be 1st decile if they went to a “less good” uni. The reality is, comparing within unis is the fairest comparison and time to get off the high horse and accept how it is. Work hard to improve your decile within the uni, instead of complaining your decile is low because your uni is too good.
What to do if you are not a final year yet?
Get publications, get involved with research and do a intercalated degree if possible.
Pre-clinical grade for ranking?
Depends on the university. Cambridge counts pre-clinical performance, but other unis apparently do not. So, I’d check with your uni specifically.
