Foundation Applicants Handbook 2011

8/12/2019 Foundation Applicants Handbook 2011

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Introduction Applying for your first hospital job as a doctor can seem like a daunting task. The UKFPO hasdesigned this handbook to answer all your questions about the recruitment process and FPAS(the online Foundation Programme Application System). Our medical student advisors havehelped us put it together to ensure all the important points are covered. Further information isavailable at: www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk . FPAS, the national online applicationprocess for the Foundation Programme 2011, is used for allocating Foundation Programmeplaces across the UK, covering England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

If you are applying for an Academic Foundation Programme, there is a separate process,which begins earlier than the main recruitment round. For more information, go to:http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/academic-programmes/how-to-apply.

ContentsTIMELINE AND OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS ..................................................................................... 3

BEFORE YOU APPLY ............................................................................................................................... 4

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE? .................................................................................................................................. 4

REGISTERING & ENROLLING ONLINE ........................................................................................................... 4 PRE- ALLOCATION TO A FOUNDATION SCHOOL BASED ON SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES ...................................... 4 CONTACTING YOU ..................................................................................................................................... 4

THE FPAS APPLICATION FORM ............................................................................................................. 5

PERSONAL ............................................................................................................................................... 5

Disabilities and personal health ......................................................................................................... 5

Linked applications ............................................................................................................................ 5 QUALIFICATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 6

CLINICAL SKILLS ....................................................................................................................................... 7

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES ............................................................................................................................ 7

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Helping your referees ......................................................................................................................... 8

The reference form ............................................................................................................................ 1 QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 10 TIPS FOR WRITING GOOD ANSWERS ......................................................................................................... 10

MYTH BUSTER: ....................................................................................................................................... 14

DOS AND DON’TS FOR COMPLETING YOUR FORM .................................................................................... 15

DOS AND DON’TS FOR COMPLETING YOUR FORM .................................................................................... 15 PREFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 16

Competition Ratios for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 ........................................................................ 16

SUBMIT .................................................................................................................................................. 18 Probity .............................................................................................................................................. 18

Data Protection ................................................................................................................................ 18

SCORING ................................................................................................................................................. 18

NUMBER OF POINTS AVAILABLE ................................................................................................................ 18

HOW YOUR APPLICATION IS SCORED ........................................................................................................ 19

ALLOCATION TO A FOUNDATION SCHOOL ....................................................................................... 19

MATCHING TO A FOUNDATION TRAINING PROGRAMME ................................................................ 20

TRANSFER OF INFORMATION .............................................................................................................. 20

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ..................................................................................................... 21

APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................................ 23

Cover photo: Photographs taken by Yves Salmon Photography. With thanks to our medical student modelswho were all members of the UKFPO’s Medical Students Board.



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Timeline and overview of the process

19 Jul – 20 Aug2010

Ensure that you are eligible to apply. If your medical school is outsidethe UK, or if you qualified from a UK medical school prior to 1 August2009, you must apply to the Eligibility Office by midday on 20 August2010.

30 Sept 2010 Deadline for the submission of special circumstances applications. 4 Oct 2010 View programmes. All programmes available in each foundation school

are posted on FPAS.

4 – 22 Oct 2010 Register and enrol online at www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk. Youmust register online and enrol in the FP2011 recruitment round beforeyou can complete the application form. Only eligible candidates will beable to apply. We recommend that you register before the start of theapplication period so any issues can be resolved before you try tocomplete the application form.

11 - 22 Oct 2010 Complete the online application form. The application period closes at12.00 noon (BST) on 22 October 2010. Late applications will not beaccepted.

1 – 19 Nov 2010 Applications are scored by your first choice foundation school.

8 Dec 2010 You will be notified via email when your application results areavailable to view online. You can log into your online account to seeyour overall application score and your allocated foundation school.

By 25 Jan 2011 Submit your preferences for specific foundation programmes.Deadlines and processes for matching you to your specific foundationprogramme will vary by foundation school. Check your foundationschool’s website for further information.

17 Dec 2010 –25 Feb 2011

Your referees will be asked to submit a structured reference for youas part of pre-employment checks.

15 Feb 2011 You will be notified via email when you have been matched to aspecific programme. You will need to log into your online account tosee your foundation programme.

18 Feb 2011 Breakdown of scores available. You can log into your account to seethe score you received for each individual answer.

Apr - Jul 2011 Pre-employment checks begin.

Jul 2011 You must have provisional GMC registration with a Licence toPractise before your employer will issue a contract of employment.Registering with the GMC is a different process from applying to theFoundation Programme and you must apply to them directly. The GMCadvises that you apply in May 2011 to ensure you are registered before August 2011.

July/Aug 2011 A contract of employment is issued to you. Your employer will also

confirm your salary details, pay banding, location and starting rota.

Aug 2011 Foundation Programme placements start.



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Before you apply

Are you eligible?If you qualified or are expecting to qualify from a UK medical school between August 2009 andJuly 2011, you are deemed eligible to apply to the Foundation Programme commencing August 2011. If your medical school is outside the UK, or if you qualified from a UK medical

school prior to 1 August 2009, you must apply to the UK Foundation Programme’s EligibilityOffice by midday on 20 August 2010.

Registering & enrolling online1. From 4 October, you can register online with FPAS at

www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk.2. Click on “Registering an account” and follow the instructions to choose a login and

password. Ensure you keep your password confidential. 3. You will be emailed an activation link. You must click on the link, or enter the activation

code supplied, to activate your account. The email will give you exact instructions.4. Once your account is activated, you will need to enrol in the FP 2011 recruitment

round. The online system will guide you through this process.5. The system will check the personal information you enter against its database of

eligible applicants. If the details you enter match those provided by your medicalschool, deanery or the UKFPO’s Eligibility Office, you will be able to start yourapplication from 11 October 2010.

Register online as soon as you can. Enter your personal data: name, date of birth and emailaddress EXACTLY as you supplied it to the medical school, foundation school, deanery orUKFPO Eligibility Office. Your data is pre-loaded onto FPAS and when you register and enrol,the system matches the data you entered with the data provided by your medical school inorder to ensure that only eligible applicants can apply. If you do not enter your personal dataexactly as it was preloaded, the system will not be able to match the information and you may

face a delay in accessing your applications. If there are any problems setting up your account,don’t panic. Just contact the organisation you supplied your details to and they can help youaccess your account.

Pre-allocation to a foundation school based on specialcircumstancesIf you need to be placed in a specific foundation school due to being the primary carer forsomeone with a disability, you are a parent or legal guardian for a child or children and youhave significant caring responsibilities, or you have a medical condition for which local follow-up is a necessary requirement, then you may be able to apply to your medical school for pre-

allocation to a foundation school. Details of the special circumstances process is available onthe UKFPO website under the “Medical Students” tab in Key Documents.

The criteria for special circumstances are very strict and you must supply all supportingdocumentation that is requested. The deadline is 30 September 2010.

Every effort will be made to honour those whose special circumstances applications have beenapproved. However, if there are more applicants than places, then those who do not scorehighly enough to make the primary list and are placed on the reserve list are unlikely to beallocated to their first choice foundation school.

Contacting youRemember to check your email regularly throughout the process. We will use your emailaddress to send you information throughout the entire recruitment period. If you need to



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change your email address for any reason, update the “account details” section of FPAS andnotify your local foundation school.

Please note: We strongly advise that you DO NOT USE HOTMAIL email accounts as theyregularly block emails from NHS servers. This means you would not get important messagesabout your application.

The FPAS application formThe application form will be divided into eight sections: Personal, Qualifications, Clinical Skills,Equal Opportunities, References, Preferences, Questions and Submit. Each section isrepresented online by a separate page, delineated by “tabs” across the top of the screen. Eachsection is further explained below. You will not be able to see the application form until theapplication period opens on 11 October.

The questions on the application form reflect the knowledge, skills and attributes required bythe national Person Specification for the Foundation Programme 2011. Your answers mustdemonstrate that you meet the person specification in order for you to be allocated to aFoundation Programme and take up employment in August 2011.

PersonalThis part of the form will only be used for employment purposes and will not be scored. If yourapplication is successful, the details in this section will be passed to your employer.

This section of the form asks you to complete the following:

• Your personal contact details (name, address, telephone numbers, etc).

• Details of any disabilities or health issues which you would want your employer to knowabout in order for them to make reasonable adjustments for your employment.

• Details of any unspent and spent convictions; and investigations into fitness to practise.In this section, the GMC has provided guidance which states that you do not have to

declare fixed penalty notices for traffic offences. • Linked application request (if applicable).

Disabilities and personal health

We recommend that you disclose disabilities and personal health issues, such as blood bornevirus infections, in the disability declaration on the application form. This information will beheld in confidence and only authorised foundation school staff members and the HRdepartment of your employing healthcare organisation will be able to access this information.

If you do not wish to disclose this information on the application form, it is essential that youinform your allocated foundation school, in confidence, by no later than 8th January 2011 as

your specific programme allocation may be affected. For example, you may need to avoidexposure prone procedures. Arrangements will be made for you to meet up with a foundationschool staff member to discuss your training.

Linked applications

You can link your application to that of another person to ensure you will both be allocated tothe same foundation school. Please note that you can only link to one other person. Thatperson can be a partner, friend, sibling – any two applicants who want to link can do so.Scoring panels will not know that your application is linked.

Keep in mind that the link only guarantees that you will be in the same foundation school, notthe same programme, employing organisation or town. Some foundation schools will try toplace linked applicants within an hour’s commute of each other, others will not. Check thefoundation school websites for their policy on linked applications.



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If you and another applicant want to link your applications, you can do so in this section of theform by choosing “yes” when asked if you wish to link your application. More information willthen appear, along with a box for you to type in the email address of the applicant you arelinking to. The process of linking works in this way:

1. You must enter the email address of the person you want to link to, ensuring it isthe same one they are using for the application process.

2. Once you type their email address in and save it, you will see a notification on yourpersonal account page (which comes up as soon as you log in). It will say either “Xlinked to you” or “You are linked to X, but they have not linked to you”.

3. In order for the link to be complete, the other person must enter the email addressyou are using for the application process on their application form.

4. Both of you must rank all of the foundation schools in the same order of preference.5. WARNING: The preferences and score of the lower scoring applicant will be used

to allocate both applicants to a foundation school. The result of your link may bethat either:a. you will be allocated to a foundation school which is lower in your order of

preference than would otherwise have been the case had you not linked yourapplication

ORb. the other individual will be allocated to a foundation school lower in his/her order

of preference than would otherwise have been the case.

The link will be honoured if:

• all the information required is provided on both applicants’ forms; and

• neither you nor the other individual has been pre-allocated to a particular foundationschool on the grounds of special circumstances; and

• there are enough programmes for all applicants. If there are more applicants thanplaces, the link will be severed if the lowest scoring applicant is below the thresholdof appointment. See the “Frequently Asked Questions” section for more information

on what happens if there are more applicants than places.

IMPORTANT: You cannot un-link your application once you have submitted your form either atthe allocation to foundation school stage or at match to programme stage.

Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the “Personal” section ofyour form.

QualificationsPlease list your qualifications, including your main medical degree, in this section. If you areNOT a final year medical student in a UK medical school, you must answer questions aboutyour GMC registration status. You will also have to provide details of your main medicaldegree, post qualification experience (not applicable to current medical students) and anyother educational qualifications.

This part of the form will only be used for employment purposes and will not be scored. If yourapplication is successful, the details in this section will be passed to your employer.

GMC registration statusFor those who have provisional registration with a Licence to Practise, please enteryour GMC registration details. (This will only be shown for those who do NOT choose “Iam currently a medical student in a UK medical school” from the drop-down menu.)

Main medical degreeYou must enter details of your medical degree and university. If you have not yetgraduated, enter the anticipated date of qualification.



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Post qualification experienceThis section is for those applicants who have already completed medical school andmay have had some experience working as a doctor prior to applying for theFoundation Programme. We would expect to see your last five years of experience.

Other educational qualifications

This section is for applicants who have completed additional educational degrees orrelevant diplomas only. These may include: BA, BSc, BMedSci, PhD, etc. This sectionof the form is not scored and has no links to Question 1 “Educational Achievements”.

Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the “Qualifications” sectionof your form. If you have qualifications that can gain points in Question 1, you must also listthem in this section of the form. If you do not, you will not get any points for them.

Clinical skillsThe assessment of your clinical skills is made primarily throughout your time at medical school.By passing your final exams, we expect you to be clinically prepared to proceed withfoundation training and we ask you to confirm this in the section. It lists the clinical andpractical skills that the GMC requires you to have by the end of medical school. You are askedto tick a box to indicate if you have attained, or expect to attain, each skill listed by August2011.

This section is not scored, so be honest in your answers. Ticking a box that says you don’thave a specific skill won’t prevent you from securing a post. This section of the form willbe sent to employers once you have a post in order to ensure that you receive the training andsupport you need. So, please say if you don’t have one or more of the skills listed.

Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the “Clinical Skills” section

of your form.

Equal OpportunitiesThis section includes the equal opportunities monitoring information required by the healthservice to monitor their recruitment practices. This section asks you to provide your age,gender, ethnic origin, religious beliefs and whether you consider yourself to have a disabilityunder the Disability Discrimination Act. If you do not wish to disclose your age, you may leavethat field blank. The rest of the fields are mandatory, but you may choose the option “I do notwish to disclose this information”.

The information you provide in this section will only be accessed by authorised individualsinvolved in the recruitment process to ensure that this process adheres to equality anddiversity legislation. Anonymised reports will be produced to analyse recruitment practices.

Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the “Equal Opportunities”section of your form.



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need to complete a “Support Form” which will be sent to the technical helpdesk. They will thenbe in touch with your referee to resolve the problem. There is no contact telephone number forthe IT department due to the sheer volume of enquiries that they receive.

The reference form

Please note: The UKFPO cannot accept references faxed or emailed to us. They must be

submitted through FPAS as we cannot process this data.

Your referees will be asked to give their opinion regarding your present knowledge and skills under

the headings provided below. Referees will choose either acceptable or cause for concern inanswer to each question. If they choose cause for concern, they will be asked to provideexamples. If they choose acceptable, no comment is required.

Clinical knowledge and skills

• Can show evidence of having achieved the outcomes for qualification set out inTomorrow’s Doctors

Language skills

• All applicants must have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that areadequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and

colleagues

Personal skills

• Demonstrates an understanding of the importance of the patient as the central focusof care

• Demonstrates ability to prioritise tasks and information appropriately

• Demonstrates an understanding of the importance of working effectively with others

• Demonstrates the ability to communicate effectively with both colleagues andpatients

• Demonstrates initiative and the ability to deal effectively with pressure and/orchallenge

Probity• Demonstrates appropriate professional behaviour, i.e. integrity, honesty,

confidentiality

OtherThe questions below have Yes/No answers. If they answer No to the first question, and Yesto the last two questions, they must provide an explanation in the comments box.

• Was their attendance/timekeeping satisfactory?

• Are you aware of any health issues which may affect the candidate’s ability toundertake this post?

• Was the applicant subject to any disciplinary procedure, formal or otherwise, during

their time with you?

RecommendationThe referee is invited to provide other comments.

Referee detailsName, position held, name of employing organisation, contact telephone number, andwhether they are providing your medical school reference or a clinical reference.



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Questions

IMPORTANT: This is the only section of the form that the scoring panel will see.

There are six questions in this section. Each question will be scored separately by a scoring

panel. You will be able to see the questions, along with the entire application form, onlybetween 11 – 22 October 2010. The questions will not be released in advance of theapplication opening period.

Medical students from previous recruitment rounds have found it helpful to draft the answersoffline first, save them, and then paste them into the application form once they were happywith them. Please note that you can save, edit and re-save your form as many times as youlike until you hit the “Submit” button in the Submit section.

Tips for writing good answers

TIP 1

Each question has several parts. Break down the question into its component partsand answer each part. Then join your answer back together into a coherent singleresponse. You will not get full points if you do not answer the entire question.

TIP 2Make sure you read the question carefully - answers need to be relevant, wellconstructed and appropriate.

TIP 3Provide a clear description of your experiences; and ensure you are concise. You willhave 200 words in which to answer each question.

TIP 4

Communication skills and attention to detail are important, so answers must be in full

sentences (i.e. no bullet points). Poor spelling and grammar may impair the quality ofyour answer and can lead to a lower score.

TIP 5Do not leave any answers blank. The system will not allow you to submit the form ifthere is nothing in the answer box.

TIP 6

Do not refer to answers you gave in other sections of the form. Scorers will only seeone answer and so will not know what you are referring to if you say “using the sameexperience set out in Question 3. . .”

Question 1 – List your educational achievements

Maximum points available: 10 points

This question is in a different format to the other questions, and has a series of drop-downboxes for you to choose from. The question has two parts:

PART A – (5 points) Degrees in addition to primary medical qualification.

PART B – (5 points) Other educational achievements.

Don’t worry if you don’t have any additional educational achievements. Fewer than 50% ofmedical students score points on this question.

Please note: It is possible that your foundation school will ask you to verify your answers, somake sure you have all your paperwork in order, and make sure the degree qualifications youput in this section are the same as in the “Qualifications” section of the form. Your score will be



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determined from the information supplied in this section of the form, not from the“Qualifications” section.

PART A – Additional degrees (max. 5 points)You must choose one of the options listed in the table below. If you have more than oneadditional qualification (eg BSc and PhD) you should choose the one that will give you thehighest score.

If you indicate that you have an additional degree, three additional boxes will appear for you tocomplete. These are: Subject of Qualification, Educational Institution and Year. Failure tocomplete these fields will result in the degree not being recognised, and a score of 0 beingallocated.

Number of points Achievement

0 Primary Medical Qualification only

1 Honours degree 3rd class, unclassified or ordinary degree

2 Honours degree 2.2 class

3 Honours degree 2.1 class

4 Masters degree, Honours degree 1st class, Bachelor of Dental Science(BDS), B Vet Med

5 Doctoral degree (PhD, DPhil, etc)

Notes

• Honours degrees include any type of Bachelors honours degree, eg BSc, BA, BEng,LlB, BMedSci, etc.

• A Masters degree is where it represents a further year of study taken in addition to abasic medical qualification. Some international medical schools (e.g. the USA) awardan ‘MD’ or similar as part of their basic medical qualifications. This qualification doesnot attract any additional points in this section.

• For students who have undertaken an exchange programme of study as part of adegree course, you must take the grade point average (GPA) and calculate theequivalent degree level and select the most appropriate.

• For a 4 point scale, a GPA of 3.6 - 4 should be scored as equivalent to a 1 st classdegree, a GPA of 3 – 3.5 as 2.1, a GPA of 2 – 2.9 as 2.2 and a GPA of 1 – 1.9 asa 3rd class degree.

• For a 5 point scale, a GPA of 4.4 - 5 should be scored as equivalent to a 1st class,a GPA of 3.8 – 4.3 as 2.1, a GPA of 3 – 3.7 as 2.2 and a GPA of 2.9 or lower as a3rd class degree.

IMPORTANT: Question 1, Part 1 will be computer-scored. All the relevant boxes must becompleted or a score of 0 will be given.



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PART B: Other educational achievements (5 points) All the information provided in this section must relate to your activities in higher education.Please do not enter any achievements in college or related to musical or sports achievements.They will not gain any points.

List your peer reviewed publications

Select one:• None

• I have a peer-reviewed publication

• I have more than one peer-reviewed publication

For the last two options, further boxes will appear which must be completed:

Authors Please list all authors in the order they appear in the publication. Yourname must be in capitals

Publication title State the title as it has been published Year Year of publication

Journal/Book Title State the full title of the journal or bookVolume/page State both the volume and page numbersPMID Please insert the PubMed ID (PMID). If you do not have a PMID, the

publication will not gain any points.

There is space on the application form for two publications only. If you have more than two,you must decide which two publications you wish to use.

List your national presentationsSelect one:

• None

• I have a national presentation

• I have more than one national presentation

If you choose the second or third options, the following further information will be requested:Date of meeting Dates including year of meetingMeeting Title of meeting and location of meetingOrganiser Name of organisation responsible for meetingPresentation Title Title of presentationAuthors Please list all authors in the order they appear in the presentation. Your

name must be in capitals.

Oral or poster presentations must be given at a national or international level and must presentyour academic work. Presentations you give during the course of your degree, or extracurricular activities i.e. BMA conference presentations, do not count. You do not need to havebeen present at the conference to have poster presentations count. There is only space on theapplication form for two presentations. If you have more than two, you must decide whichpresentations you wish to include.

National presentations mean all of the following: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,UK or any other nation.

List your nationally recognised prizesOn the application form, you must select one of the following:

•

None• I have a nationally recognised educational prize

• I have more than one nationally recognised educational prize



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If you indicated that you have won a prize, you will have to complete the following information:

Name of prize The full formal title of the prize Year The year the prize was awardedAwarding Body The name of the organisation/institution awarding the prizeDetails of prize Details of what the prize was for, the level of competition, the

number applying and how the prize was awarded.

Contact for verification. This can be a web address or a contact name/address/telephonenumber for a person who can officially verify details of the award.

Details of only two prizes can be submitted. If you have been awarded more than two prizes,list the most prestigious and competitive prize received.

This must be a FIRST PRIZE. Second or third prize, or honourable mention does not qualifyfor points in this section.

A prize is awarded for achievement, rather than being an activity that is to be carried out.Therefore, the following are NOT considered prizes:

• Bursaries

• Elective awards

• Grants

• Scholarships

• Funding for research projects

• Anything relating to funding

• University prizes

Max Points = 5 Scoring Criteria

Up to 2

• Publications - Publication of peer reviewed academic work to whichthe applicant is a named contributor and has a PMID

Up to 2

• Presentations - Oral or poster presentation at national orinternational level to which the applicant is a named contributor.Poster presenters do not need to have presented the poster inperson at the conference.

• Please note that online presentations do not count for purposes ofthis application

Up to 2

• Prizes - Academic/educational prizes at national level (excludingmedical school prizes and bursaries).

All parts of this section have equal weighting, with up to two points available in each section.However, the maximum number of points that can be earned is 5, NOT 6 points.

IMPORTANT: Question 1 Part B will be scored by expert national scoring panels on a singleday in November in one location, rather than by your first choice foundation school. Thescorers will not have access to any other part of your application form. Each form will only beidentified by the application number, in the same way the rest of your application will bescored. If any of the relevant boxes that require information are not completed, you will receivea score of 0 for that portion.

Many Question 1 answers will be verified during the national scoring day for this question;using the information you provide (for example, PubMed IDs will be checked).



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Question 2 – Question 6 - guidanceMaximum points available: 10 points Limit: 200 words

All the questions relate to specific criteria within the National FP Person Specification. You mustdemonstrate through your answers that you meet the Person Specification in order to beallocated to a foundation school.

Applicants who score “0” on a question will have their whole application collated and checked tosee whether their application as a whole meets the person specification. If the foundationschool scoring the application does not think that it meets the person specification, they willsend it to a national review panel, which will make the final decision.

You will be able to see all questions 2 – 6, along with the full application form when theapplication period opens on 11 October 2010.

Myth Buster:

Myth“Scorers are looking for buzzwords and key phrases when theyscore. If you don’t have them, you won’t score very well.”

FactThere are no buzzwords or key phrases. The scorers are looking tosee if you have answered the questions asked, in your own words, todemonstrate that you meet the person specification.



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DOs and DON’Ts for completing your form

DO DON’T

Compose your answers offline first, and savethem.

Use your word processing programme’s spell-check and word counter before transferring youranswer to your application form.

If you do not save your work or go to another tabwhen you are in FPAS, the system thinks youare inactive and will time you out after 20 min.This means you would lose your work. For thisreason it is a good idea to formulate youranswers offline and paste them across whenyou are happy with them.

NOTE: The word counter you use may bedifferent than that used by the applicationsystem.

Don’t expect to complete the wholeapplication form in one sitting.

Consider booking at least three sessions inyour diary to work on it. It will undoubtedlytake longer than you think.

Make sure you paste your answers into thecorrect box on the application form.

Panels will just be scoring one question only, soif your answer is not relevant because youpasted it into the wrong box, you will receive ascore of 0 for that answer.

Don’t be tempted to use someone else’smaterial or an example you heard in alecture.

The system uses plagiarism software whichwill pick up any sort of standard or repeatedanswer. If evidence of plagiarism is found,the applicant will be withdrawn from the

system and may be reported to the GMC.

Make sure you press “save” on each section,or you will lose your answers when you go tothe next section.

After you save a section, you can go back to it,edit it and re-save as many times as you likebefore you submit the form.

Don’t ask friends/colleagues to help youwrite or re-write your answers for you.

You must submit your own work. If there isevidence of collusion or unfair practice,your application will be withdrawn from thesystem.

Print out a hard copy of your completedapplication form and keep this copy for yourrecords.

You may need a copy if your foundation schoolor employer wishes to interview you, or if theyask you to verify your answers.

Don’t press submit until you havechecked your application thoroughly

Ensure that all the information is in the rightplace, there is a different answer to everyquestion and your preferences are in theright order.

Remember not to refer to other answers youhave given.

Scoring panels will only see the answer to onequestion, not your whole form. Make sure that all

information relevant to a particular answer isincluded.

Don’t leave it to the last minute tosubmit your application form. Lateapplications will not be accepted underany circumstances.



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PreferencesBefore submitting your application, you must rank ALL the foundation schools in order ofpreference in this section. The table below shows the competition ratios in each foundationschool for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. You can see that some foundation schools are alwayspopular, but that different schools are over or undersubscribed in different years. The ratio iscalculated by dividing the number of applicants by the number of vacancies available. Any

percentage over 100% is oversubscribed and had more applicants choose that foundationschool as their first preference than places available.

Please note that ratios from previous years are not an indication of the popularity of schools forthis year. Competition will vary, depending on which schools other applicants choose to list astheir first preference.

Do not make your decisions based on these figures alone. It is not possible to predict whatfoundation school your fellow medical students are going to choose as their first preference.You do need to be realistic about your choices, though. If your academic score is in a lowerquartile and you don’t feel you’ve been able to answer the application questions particularlywell, it is unlikely that you will be allocated to a very competitive school. You are allocated to a

foundation school first based on your preferences, then on your score.

Competition Ratios for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010

Foundation School 2007 2008 2009 2010*

Birmingham, Shropshire and Staffordshire 104% 81% 75% N/A

Black Country 59% 97% 85% N/A

Coventry and Warwick 81% 94% 99% 101%

East Anglian 110% 75% 73% 85%

Hereford and Worcester 71% 71% 87% N/A

Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland 101% 98% 93% 101%

Mersey 86% 80% 79% 89%

North Central Thames 82% 132% 139% 144%North East Thames 101% 108% 139% 96%

North West Thames 114% 215% 130% 190%

North Western 94% 94% 80% 94%

North Yorkshire and East Coast 18% 47% 47% N/A

Northern 88% 77% 77% 74%

Northern Ireland 119% 105% 113% 100%

Oxford 173% 107% 109% 116%

Peninsula 103% 94% 84% 81%

Scotland 100% 105% 91% 92%

Severn 126% 109% 140% 100%

South Thames 117% 117% 118% 127%

South Yorkshire 114% 110% 130% N/A

Trent 91% 84% 68% 76%

Wales 101% 91% 89% 91%

Wessex 116% 90% 83% 81%

West Yorkshire 108% 96% 100% N/A

*In 2010, you will see that a number of schools have “N/A” instead of a percentage. That is because ofchanges in the way the foundation schools were configured for that recruitment round.



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Details of FP 2010 recruitment round

Foundation School VacanciesApplicants choosing

FS as 1st

preference

Competitionratio

Coventry and Warwickshire FS 84 85 101%

East Anglian FS 288 245 85%Keele (Staffordshire) FS 102 39 38%

Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland FS 143 144 101%

Mersey FS 290 259 89%

North Central Thames FS 313 451 144%

North East Thames FS 312 299 96%

North West Thames FS 267 506 190%

North Western FS 532 499 94%

Northern FS 390 288 74%

Northern Ireland FS 252 252 100%

Oxford FS 225 261 116%

Peninsula FS 198 160 81%

Scotland FS 747 684 92%

Severn FS 270 270 100%

South Thames FS 814 1032 127%

Trent FS 292 222 76%

Wales FS 324 296 91%

Wessex FS 294 239 81%

West Midlands, North, Central and South FS 408 436 107%

Yorkshire and the Humber FS 600 483 81%

Each applicant's preference will be considered in order of score, starting with the highestscoring applicant. Applicants will be allocated their first preference foundation schoolwherever possible (that is, while places remain available within that school).

Applicants not allocated to their first preference foundation school, will then each beconsidered, in score order, and placed in their highest preference school at which placesremain available.

Here's how it works:

In last year’s recruitment round, Sharon’s application scored 70 (academic ranking +application questions). She ranked NW Thames as her first preference foundation school,followed by the other three London foundations schools as her second, third and fourthpreferences.

Because NW Thames only had 270 places and 352 applicants, all the available places werefilled with higher scoring applicants and Sharon didn’t get into her first preference school.

Now, even though Sharon had a good score which would have meant she’d have achieved aplace in South Thames Foundation School (her second preference) if she had listed it as herfirst preference, she didn’t get in. South Thames was already filled with applicants who did listit as their first preference.

The next school on Sharon’s list of preferences that had vacancies at this point was Wales,her fifth choice. Therefore Sharon was allocated to the Wales Foundation School.

There are no absolutes, however. There is no score which will assure you a place in anyfoundation school. You cannot say that for 2011, you must have a score of 83 for NW Thames,



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2. Application questions - 60 points maximum There are six questions in total which will each have a maximum score of 10 points.Questions 2 - 6 are the text questions which all have a word limit of 200.

How your application is scoredEach of your answers is scored by a panel of two people, at least one of whom is a clinician,

using a detailed set of national scorers’ guidelines.

Questions are scored “horizontally”. This means that each panel will score a particularquestion (i.e. all Question 2s; or all Question 3s) rather than scoring entire applications. Theresult is that each application is scored by at least 10 individuals.

Prior to scoring, all members of scoring panels will have been trained to a national standardusing a single set of nationally agreed scoring criteria. This is to ensure that scorers aremarking as consistently as possible.

Each panel member will first score a question independently, and then the two panel memberswill discuss their scores with each other to agree a final score for each question. If they cannot

agree, the question is passed to another panel to re-score. A chief assessor will be nominatedfor each scoring event and will be the final arbiter of scoring in case of dispute.

Each scoring panel will only be provided with the answer to one of your questions and yourapplicant number. All other information is held on a secure database and passed to employersfor pre-employment checks once an offer of a training place has been made.

Please note that the scores you receive for each question may vary. Do not assume thatbecause you have scored highly in one answer that you will necessarily score highly in anotheranswer. Each answer is scored on its own merit and it would not be unusual to see a range ofscores across an application – e.g. 1, 10, 8, 2, 8, 6 . The questions are very different and thescores may vary accordingly.

Verifying your answersYou may be asked to verify the answers provided on the application form by supplyingevidence. For example, if one of your answers mentions a situation which occurred during yourelective in Canada, you may need to supply evidence that you were on elective in Canada andtestimony from a team member verifying that the situation occurred. If you have won a nationalprize, the foundation school would expect that they would be able to go to a website to see theaward and view a photocopy of your certificate.

You will not be asked to breach patient confidentiality. If asked to verify a situation you were in,

you may be asked where and when it took place, and the name of your consultant. You mayneed to ask someone to testify the situation happened.

If you are unable to verify your answers by post to the satisfaction of the Foundation SchoolDirector, s/he will probably ask you to come in for an interview to discuss the situation.

If there continues to be doubt about the veracity of an answer, the Foundation School Directorwill withdraw you from the application process and refer you back to your medical school.

Allocation to a foundation school

You are allocated to a foundation school based on your foundation school order of preferenceand your application score. Your overall application score (the combined score of youracademic ranking and the number of points you score on the application) and your foundation



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school allocation will be available to view on your personal account on 8 December 2010. Youwill receive an email to let you know when the information is available.

Matching to a foundation training programmeThe next step is for you to be matched to a specific programme within the foundation school. As this part of the process is managed locally by the foundation school, it is very important to

check the website of your allocated foundation school to see what process they use formatching you to a particular programme.

Some foundation schools conduct interviews as part of the matching to programme processCheck the relevant foundation school website for their local process.

Transfer of Information Tomorrow’s Doctors, Paragraph 121, places an obligation on medical schools to ensure youmeet the outcomes required and to transfer information to those who may need it during yourfoundation training:

“. . .medical schools should also make arrangements so that graduates’ areas of relativeweakness are fed into their Foundation Programme portfolios so they can be reviewed by theeducational supervisor. This information should draw on assessments in relation to theoutcomes and including graduating transcripts.

“In applying for the Foundation Programme, applicants accept that such a transfer ofinformation will take place.”

Your medical school will give you more details about the Transfer of Information (ToI) process.The national process and forms can be found on the UKFPO website under “Medical Students/ Key Documents”.

Pre-employment checks and employment contractsPre-employment checks include Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, occupational healthchecks and may, in some cases, include an interview. You must ensure that both of yourreferences are submitted, as your employer cannot offer you a contract of employment withoutthem.

The law is changing for pre-employment checksNew measures have been introduced to help prevent unsuitable people from undertaking paidor volunteer work with children and vulnerable adults. This is called the Vetting and BarringScheme (VBS). From November 2010, all new employees and volunteers in jobs involvingregulated activity must be registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) in

England, Wales and Northern Ireland; and the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme inScotland. The websites of the relevant employers’ organisations in each country havepublished details of this scheme. Registration with the ISA currently costs £64 in England andWales, £58 in Northern Ireland. Registration with ISA and PVG schemes does not replace theCRB checks, but provides an extra level of security. Please note that is the responsibility of theapplicant to become registered and pay the required fees, however some employers maychoose to pay the fee for you. Please check with your employing healthcare organisation fordetails.

Your employment contractIt is important to note that your employer (hospital, trust or board), not the foundation school, isresponsible for offering you an employment contract. They are also responsible for all

contractual issues such as location, pay, banding, rotas and accommodation. If they requestthat you attend an interview as part of their pre-employment checks, please do so. Employershave a responsibility to patients to ensure that the doctors allocated to them are fit for purpose.



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If you do not attend an interview when called, they can refuse to offer you an employmentcontract.

Starting your jobSome foundation schools and/or individual employers offer up to two weeks prior to the start ofthe Foundation Programme as an extended induction/preparation for practice. You are advisedto check the foundation school website for details of this. In some places, it will be mandatory

and will affect the start date of your GMC registration.

IMPORTANT: If anything should happen which would prevent you taking up your post in August (such as illness or finals failure), it is vital that you let your foundation school know assoon as possible.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if there are not enough foundation training jobs for everyone whoapplies?

If there are more applicants than vacancies, allocation to foundation school becomes a threestage process:

1. The first stage is to identify the top scoring applicants who will be placed in the “primarylist” to be allocated to foundation schools; and lower scoring applicants who will beplaced on a “reserve list”.

2. The second stage is to allocate those on the primary list to foundation schools, usingthe current allocation algorithm. They will be allocated first by foundation schoolpreference, then by score as per the normal algorithm.

3. The third stage of the process is to allocate reserve list applicants to FoundationProgrammes when vacancies arise. Usually these vacancies arise as a consequenceof students failing their final examinations or withdrawing from the programme. Reservelist applicants will be allocated to foundation schools based on their scores andfoundation school preferences in two batches. This is likely to be in April and July.

Please note that if the system is oversubscribed, any applicants who have linked theirapplications where one or both applicants are on the reserve list will have the link removed.

We cannot guarantee that those applicants with special circumstances will be allocated to theirfirst choice school if they are on the reserve list.

If there are a number of applicants with the same score at the bottom cut-off point, they will berandomly allocated with some being placed on the primary list and others on the reserve list.

Because there is less “give” in the system if it is full, it is likely that a much smaller percentageof applicants will get their first choice foundation school. If an applicant does not get their firstchoice, it is possible that the foundation school they are allocated to is a much lowerpreference.

Reserve list applicants may be allocated to their first choice foundation school if vacanciesarise there. It is important to note that the higher scoring applicants will have had anopportunity to gain the programmes they are interested in. Those on the reserve list must takethe programmes that are left.

We anticipate that the vast majority of those on the reserve list will get a FoundationProgramme, but they may not know where until July 2010 (at the latest). Further information,guidance and support will be provided to any applicants on the reserve list.



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What happens if there are not enough applicants for all the vacancies?

Posts will be suspended on a pro-rata basis in each foundation school using a pre-determinedformula. The number of suspended posts will be dependent on the number of vacancies. Postswill be suspended in multiples of three per foundation school (3, 6, 9, 12, etc.) This plan willonly apply in England. Posts will not be suspended in Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

Should I ask an online service to help me with my application?We know there are websites which offer to write or re-write your answers for you. They mayuse many of the same phrases, so the plagiarism software we use will pick it up. Whereevidence of plagiarism is found, the applicant will be withdrawn from the system and may bereported to the GMC. When we asked medical students to find out how good these websiteservices are, the feedback we received was “don’t waste your money”.

How much help can my tutor/supervisor give me on answering the questions?It is always a good idea to ask someone to proofread your answers before you submit them.However, they cannot write the answers for you. The answers must be your own work andcome from your own experiences.

What happens if I don’t agree with my score and want to appeal?You cannot appeal against your score. The scores you receive for each question may vary andyou may have a range of scores across your application form from 1 – 10. This is not unusual.Do not assume that because you have scored highly in one answer that you will necessarilyscore highly in another answer.

The decisions made about your score by the scoring panels are final. You can only appeal ifyou think that the process discriminated against you in some way. There is an opportunity todo this at the conclusion of the process, after applicants are matched to programmes. Detailsare on the UKFPO website. Appeals are not accepted until the recruitment process has

completed as you cannot appeal in the middle of a process.

Does the offer of a training programme guarantee me a job?No it does not. The Foundation Programme recruitment process will match you to a foundationtraining programme, but the employing organisation makes the offer of employment. They willissue a contract only after they have successfully completed your pre-employment checks.

What happens if I don’t want the job?Successful applicants will be allocated to one foundation school only, then to one programmeonly. Declining your foundation school or programme allocation will mean that you arewithdrawing from the process.

There is no system for “swaps” between schools. If you withdraw from your programme, it isunlikely that there will be any two year Foundation Programmes advertised that you can applyfor. Vacancies that arise in other schools normally only open to doctors with full GMCregistration. However we recommend that you clarify this with the employing trust. These posts are likely to only be for one year and may not be recognised for training.

What happens if I do not pass my final exams and do not graduate as expected?You will need to apply through the application system again next year, once you have receivedyour medical qualification. The place allocated to you this year will not be held for you. Youmust re-apply in open competition.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information, download the “How to apply” presentation or check out the MedicalStudent’s forum, both available from the UKFPO website at www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk



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APPENDIX A

MSC/UKFPO GUIDANCEON

COMPLETING FP2011 APPLICATION FORMS

Guidance for Foundation Programme ApplicantsMarch 2010

IntroductionMedical Schools Council and the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) are keen to ensure that allmedical students in the UK have equal access to guidance when completing their FoundationProgramme applications. We are aware that in the past, the variation in the level and quality of advicehas been significant. Therefore, the Medical Schools Council and the UKFPO have developed thisguidance document.

The aim is to ensure that all medical school staff and students are aware of the boundaries of theappropriate level of guidance and support for applicants whilst completing their application.

Over the next couple of years, we will be moving towards a system where students applying for theFoundation Programme will sit an assessment under exam conditions where no outside help will bepermitted. The current application questions (the white-space questions) should be viewed as aprecursor to this assessment. For the recruitment round for Foundation Programme commencing August2011, please also note that the questions will only be available during the actual application period,rather than being visible prior to that period.

Guidelines for medical school staff on help and adviceMedical school staff, clinical tutors and former scorers have been told that they cannot give you directcoaching and advice. Below is an extract from the advice they must adhere to:

“It is essential that answers to the white space questions are the applicant’s own work.Therefore, whilst medical school and associated staff may meet with students to provide general

advice and guidance about completion of white space questions, they will provide neither

specific advice nor direct individual coaching about the content of written answers. Students

will continue to sign a declaration confirming that the application is entirely his/her own

work.”

Anyone on a scoring panel must sign a confidentiality agreement to say that they will not discuss thescoring criteria outside the room. Therefore, if you ask someone to read your answers and comment onthem; those familiar with the scoring criteria will only be able to do so in the most general terms.Therefore, if the person reading your answers gives detailed feedback or declares that answers “shouldget good points”, they do not know the scoring criteria and therefore you should take their advice with a

hefty pinch of salt.

Academic Integrity and Unfair Practice Academic integrity is a very important concept. It is all about honesty and trust and requires you tomaintain high moral and ethical standards. Put simply, all work you do must be all your own and you willhave to sign a declaration to this effect before you submit your application. If a student has hadsignificant help in writing or amending their answers, has worked with another person on their answers,or has downloaded their answers from the internet, then that is considered cheating. If the UKFPOreceives evidence of this behaviour, the students in question will be removed from the nationalapplication process whilst the claims are investigated.

Plagiarism This occurs when work that is submitted for assessment contains the words or ideas of others withoutthe original source being properly attributed or acknowledged. It includes attempts to pass off work thathas been produced by fellow students as your own, or words or ideas that are found in textbooks, inarticles, on the Web, or in any other format. It includes both work that is directly copied from another



source and work that has been slightly changed or paraphrased to make it look like it is different fromthe original.

Collusion This takes place when work that has been done with others is submitted and passed off as solely thework of one person. When working with others you must ensure that you are clear about what can bedone in collaboration with others, and what must be solely your own efforts. Whilst it is a good idea toshare and discuss ideas with your peers, you must make sure that work submitted for assessmentmeets the specified requirements.

Unfair Practice This is defined as any act whereby a person might obtain for him/herself or for another, an unpermittedadvantage leading to a higher mark or grade than his/her abilities would otherwise secure. This includesthe impersonation of another student or allowing oneself to be impersonated whilst completing the onlineapplication form.

To avoid any suspicion of collusion and/or plagiarism do not copy anyone else’s answers. If a fellowstudent copies your work then you are both open to an accusation of unfair practice and will both beremoved from the process pending investigation. An experienced marker can easily detect copied work – it is usually the similarity of mistakes that betrays it. So be warned!

Unfair practice, or cheating as it is commonly known, is not tolerated by the UKFPO.

Foundation Applicants Handbook 2011

Documents

Transcript of Foundation Applicants Handbook 2011