Foundation Training

Specialised Foundation Programme doctors have dedicated time set aside for academic activities. The vast majority of academic placements (over 80%) are in research but there are also opportunities in medical education or management and leadership.

The programme follows the same curriculum and outcomes as the standard foundation programme. However, it also includes a period (equivalent to one of the six rotations) of focus on your area of interest, that is, research, education or management usually during the second year (F2). Most placements offer a four-month block (the last of the six rotations) for the specialist activity but some do offer more of a day release model over a longer period of study.

About 6%* of foundation training posts each year (around 620 in 2024 ) are specialised foundation posts. 

*Based on the number of eligible applications from the 2024 Foundation Programme Allocation.

So, if you are considering a career in research, fancy developing innovative cures for diseases, or want to share your knowledge with future trainees as an educator, a SFP will give you first-hand experience of this environment.

It is still possible to have a career in academic medicine without having completed an SFP but the early insight gained from the programme may help you decide if this is the path you wish to pursue.

What skills do SFP trainees need?

You’ll need excellent clinical skills, a strong record of academic achievement and ideally some published research, teaching, or leadership experience.

If you’ve been awarded any prizes or other awards at medical school, this will also add value to your application.

It is possible to demonstrate your ability and enthusiasm in other ways. For example, if you have experience in a research environment either through a prior degree or work experience, or by undertaking a summer research project or voluntary clinical audit.

Clinically you will need to achieve all the Foundation Programme outcomes in reduced time (as effectively 1/6th of your placements will be on your academic programme) so you need to be confident you have a strong clinical base and be committed to actively managing your learning from day one.

Benefits of clinical audit

UK Foundation Programme

UK Foundation Programme -  Specialised Foundation Programme

Foundation Priority Programmes (FPP) have been developed to support specific areas of the UK that have historically found it difficult to attract and retain trainees through the foundation and specialty recruitment processes. The main aim is to maximise the opportunity for applicants who wish to be located in less popular areas and therefore improve supply for specialty training and beyond.

These programmes also offer a range of incentives, which vary depending on the foundation school offering them, for example, additional educational opportunities, digital innovation, international experience, financial incentives, leadership, medical education and enhanced exposure in certain specialties.

NHS foundation programme website - FAQs on FPP

Psychiatry is an area of medicine where there is a growing need for suitably trained staff, given the unprecedented focus on mental health across the UK. Policy decisions and changes mean that there has never been a more crucial time to work in mental health.

As a psychiatrist, you’ll utilise your interpersonal skills, medical and scientific knowledge to work with people from all walks of life and the support you offer has the potential to change lives.

There are a large number of different sub-specialties within the field of Psychiatry. For example, core areas include:

• General adult
• Child and adolescent
• Psychotherapy
• Forensic
• Old age
• Intellectual disability

Higher training sub-specialties include:

• Academic psychiatry
• Eating disorders
• Neuropsychiatry
• Rehabilitation and social psychiatry
• Addictions
• Liaison psychiatry
• Perinatal psychiatry

 Find out a lot more about becoming a psychiatrist:

Royal College of Psychiatrists

From time to time foundation schools offer a locally devised programme within foundation training. An example of this is the Longitudinal Integrated Foundation Training offered by Health Education England Yorkshire and Humber.

In this programme instead of trainees receiving one four-month block of general practice training they experience two sessions per week (one day) in general practice throughout their two years of foundation training. This runs alongside four days each week in the traditional four-month hospital block placements, experiencing the six other usual placements across the two-year training programme. 

For further information visit the Yorkshire and Humber foundational training website 

For the standard foundation programme you must rank all schools (or Units of Application* as they are known) in order of preference. In recent years almost 95% of all applicants were allocated to one of their top five preferences and almost 80% to their first choice.

Some of the factors you may take into account when comparing schools are:

• the programmes available at each school. For example, if you definitely want to do a rotation in paediatric surgery you will need to search for all programmes containing these rotations
• familiarity with the local area
• proximity to friends and family and your support network
• reputation of the training, hospitals and GP practices in the area - each year the General Medical Council survey foundation trainees and produce a report with their feedback. You can also access a variety of helpful tools and information to support choosing a foundation school via Messly, a private locum agency. They offer several easy to read articles and blogs to help simplify the more detailed report given by the GMC. Please note, you will be asked to give an email address to access the content on the site.

Pre-Allocations for Personal Circumstances

If you need to be in a geographical area due to your personal circumstances such as caring responsibilities, health reasons or ongoing educational support, you can apply to the UK Foundation Programme to be considered for pre-allocation to a specific foundation school on the grounds of special circumstances. You can also apply for pre-allocation if your meet the widening participation circumstances criteria, i.e. if you studied on the A108 Foundation Year course.

*A Unit of Application comprises of one or more foundation schools that are grouped together for the purposes of processing applications.

UK Foundation Programme

Once you have completed the application form and ranked each location in Oriel you will be given a computer-generated rank by the Oriel system. From 2024 your rank is no longer informed by your performance at medical school.

The Oriel system will then use an algorithm that will work through the list of applications in computer-generated rank order. This preference informed allocation is designed to give as many applicants their first-choice preference as possible. Applicants will receive an email through Oriel in March with the details of their allocation. Following this applications will be invited to preference groups/individual programmes. This process is managed by individual Foundation Schools, but the same computer-generated rank will be used when allocation applicants at the group/programme match stage.

For more details on the Preference Informed Allocation visit the UKFPO website and read the latest applicant guidance.

There is no longer a separate SFP application form in Oriel.  Each of the four nations is managing selection to the SFP in a different way, more details for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are available on the UKFPO webpage.

Specialised Foundation Programme

In England, one-third of SFP posts will be appointed to by the local medical school’s selection process (pathway 1).

For the University of Nottingham this has been the completion of a Microsoft Form which asks about your motivations for applying to the SFP.  If you are offered and accept a post through this pathway 1, you will be taken out of the national preference informed allocation (PIA).

Any student who is unsuccessful in pathway 1 can still application for an SFP through the PIA system, this is pathway 2. Pathway 2  is the same national application and allocation process used for the main foundation programme. When applicants are allocated to a foundation school via PIA, you are then recommended to preference the SFP group first if you are hoping to do an SFP.  Finally, when matching to programmes you will need to preference the SFP programmes in your order of choice.

NHS Specialised Foundation Programme - Recruitment and Selection 2026