Foundation programme 2009
Thomas Kelley and Emily Finnigan explain how recruitment will work for UK junior doctors starting next August
- By: Thomas Kelley, Emily Finnigan
In August 2009 the foundation programme will enter its fourth year, and final year medical students throughout the United Kingdom are preparing to apply when the online system opens on 27 October 2008.
The foundation programme's national online recruitment system was introduced in 2006 to recruit medical students into the 2007 foundation programme. This system made applying to other foundation schools easier than in the past, when medical students were expected to get jobs locally or ask the express permission of their dean to move. During 2007 recruitment, all eligible applicants were placed in programmes; more than 93% were accepted by their first choice foundation school and around 25% of applicants applied outside their local area. The downside was that there were technical glitches and the site was reported to run slowly.
During the 2008 recruitment round, 100% of UK medical graduates and other eligible applicants were placed into foundation