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Pathway to Residency - UK Contact

United Kingdom

The UK Foundation Year Program (UKFP) is a two-year, work-based training program which is intended to bridge the gap between medical school and specialty or general practice training. Foundation Year 1 (FY1) is equivalent to an internship and Foundation Year 2 (FY2) is an additional year of experience. Importantly, it can then be followed by specialty training which ranges from 3 years (for General Practice) to 8 years (hospital-based specialties). This training should be recognized in North America. Foundation training is paid employment and is offered through British Health Service hospitals.

How it Works

  1. Are Irish Medical Students Eligible?

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    Graduates from Irish medical schools are eligible to apply to the UKFP. Irish graduates submit an Eligibility Application prior to the UKFP application on the Oriel website (national online application system). Eligibility applications are typically submitted in the month of August before the final year of medical school. Once the UK Foundation Program Office (UKFPO) deems that applicant as eligible, they may then pursue the main UKFP application.


    The UK is divided into 20 regions/deaneries. You rank your preference of region. If the score of your application is within the top 8,000 applicants, then you are guaranteed a job. Whether or not you get your top choice will depend on your application score. https://jchui.github.io/fpas-calc/ will help you determine your chances of getting into each deanery with your application score.

  2. Email contacts

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    Email: helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk
    Enquiries: helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk

  3. Useful websites

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    Web: http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk

Timeline

  1. Step One

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    Ask the medical school for your Dean’s Statement that states your class ranking. Download the template from the eligibility application website and ask the school to fill it out. Ask them at the end of June/July so you have it ready for the eligibility application.

  2. Step Two

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    Eligibility application – Opens mid-July and closes beginning of August. Make an account on Oriel (https://www.oriel.nhs.uk/Web/) and submit your application. All you need is the Dean’s statement and your passport.

  3. Step Three

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    Application for UKFP (main application) – Opens start of September and is open for a couple of weeks. Once deemed eligible, then you can apply to the main application on Oriel.

    This is also a straight-forward application. You will be asked to rank the 20 deaneries in order of preference (you are able to change the order of your preferences after the submission of the application until January).

  4. Step Four

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    Situational Judgment Test – Either in December of January You can either do this in-person in the UK or other parts of the world (Unfortunately not Ireland) OR online through Pearson Vue proctoring.

How Your Application is Scored

Scoring

1) Academic – 50

  • You get a score for your class centile between 34-43 points
  • Extra points if you have a bachelors and finished with honours (1-4 points)
  • Extra point for master or phd
  • Extra 2 points for publications

2) Situational Judgement Test – 50

  • SJT is a multiple choice (ranking best to worst option) scenario based test you will have to write in December/January
    Does not require much study
  • It is not based on clinical knowledge but common sense

Eg: Your senior colleague comes to work drunk?
A. buy him a drink and let him practice
B. Do not
C. Do not let him practice
D. Call your consultant and explain