Foundation Training Programmes

2025 - 2027 Foundation Training Programmes

Dr Verena Chu - Quote

Applicants should note the following:

 

  • All programmes (FP,FPP and SFP) are featured in the FP programme charts. Unless otherwise stated all programmes host 3 vacancies and the post locations will be at the acute employing trust. The order in which the posts are displayed is not necessarily the order in which you will undertake them. The order of rotation will be displayed on Oriel.
  • As with all programmes and the changing nature of healthcare, the information provided on these pages is accurate at the time of publication but is always subject to change in line with service requirements and reconfigurations. 
  • Banding of posts is an employment matter and any queries regarding pay bands should be directed to the trusts and not to the Foundation School. Applicants should note that some full programmes maybe unbanded and it is advisable to contact trusts prior to ranking to enquire, if banding is of significant importance. 

 

Please use the links below to access the programme detail for each of our trusts for FP 2024-2026.  The Common Abbreviations document will help identify site locations.

All posts may be subject to further service changes prior to August 2024. 

 

All FP programmes shown below have 3 vacancies per track. On Oriel however each track will be shown as three individual vacancies labelled A,B,C, this is for the purposes of preferencing and for providing a pre-determined and final order of rotations to the trust for the three doctors matched to the programme. 

 

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

East Cheshire NHS Trust

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust (Royal Liverpool, Broadgreen & Aintree)

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust - Southport & Ormskirk

Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust - St Helens and Knowsley

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Leighton Hospital)

Nobles - Isle of Man

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (Royal Oldham, Fairfield General, Salford Royal)

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care Foundation Trust

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

Warrington & Halton Hospitals Foundation Trust

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

 

 

 

Payment arrangements for programmes

 

As with all posts and programmes, financial supplements for out of hours duties and on-call arrangements are a matter for the employing trust and as such enquiries relating to pay should be directed to the acute site.  Applicants are advised to make the necessary enquiries before selecting their preferences to trust and programme through the recruitment process.  NHS E is concerned with curriculum delivery - it does not (nor ever has had) any involvement in determining out of hours work and its remuneration. 

Medical students/applicants applying through Oriel for a Foundation Training Programme should note the following important information regarding programmes:

  • All FTPs in the North West of England Foundation School have been approved as full two year (F1 and F2) programmes by a committee at NHS England - North West, on behalf of the regulators, the General Medical Council (GMC).
  • All programmes have been approved to confirm a balance between medicine and surgery and that the full competences of the Foundation Curriculum for F1/F2 sign off are achievable from that programme. 
  • All programmes have been approved in line with the recommendations set by the recently published (Feb 2014) Broadening the Foundation Programme report and have been carefully balanced to avoid the duplication of sub-specialties and introduce community facing elements where necessary. 
  • Most programmes will have a 4 month community placement in line with the national requirement for schools to deliver 100% of placements in a community based environment. In the North West the majority of these posts will be in General Practice.
  • The North West of England Foundation School does not approve or allow any swaps between programmes and specialties, even when two applicants/trainees are in mutual agreement. 
  • All programmes are for the duration of 24 months in total on a 6x4 month rotation.  The majority of two year programmes have 3 vacancies, unless otherwise stated. 
  • The order in which the posts are displayed is not necessarily the order in which you will complete the programme. The rotas and the order in which you will rotate through the programme are determined by the employing trust following completion of the recruitment process. 
  • The payment of financial supplements for out of hours duties and on-call arrangements are an employment matter and any queries regarding pay should be directed to the trust and not the Foundation School. Applicants should note that the opportunities for out of hours work varies from Trust to Trust and it is therefore advisable to contact the Trusts prior to ranking preferences to enquire about any financial supplements. 
  •  
  • Applicants are advised to note carefully that all trusts are working towards the targets set out in the Broadening report and some trusts are undergoing reconfiguration of services.  Occasionally specialties, services and locations are changed and/or moved due to unforeseen circumstances or national requirements.
  • The programmes listed are accurate, to the best of our knowledge, at the time of posting. 

 

 

Foundation Programme with Enhance 

 

Enhance tracks have been designed to deliver HEE’s Medical Education Reform Programme strategy for implementing generalist skills into the early years of postgraduate medical training. More information can be found here: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/enhancing-generalist-skills

 

Within Enhance, Foundation Doctors will spend 2-3 sessions per week in a community setting, supporting integrated hospital and community-based training, as per the aims of the MERP strategy. In those community sessions, there will be a particular focus on the health and wellbeing of deprived community, vulnerable populations and health inequalities.

 

Link to the HEE Enhance handbook here: Handbook | Health Education England (hee.nhs.uk)

 

 

 

 

Foundation Priority 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.

 

There will be 1 Foundation Priority Programme vacancies in the North West of England at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust. 

 

Additional information regarding the application process can be found on the UKFPO website.

 

 
 
Longitudinal Integrated Foundation Training Programmes (LIFT) – Archive : For information only

 

Following the 2012 Broadening the Foundation Programme Report, integrated placements are on the increase throughout the country.

There is a considerable body of literature commending longitudinal training, with evidence for better training and better clinical care. The North West of England Foundation School piloted a number of Longitudinal Integrated Foundation Training (LIFT) programmes between 2016 and 2018, which did not have traditional four-month FY2 placements in General Practice. Instead LIFT programmes had 6 four-month placements in specialities, with a longitudinal attachment to a practice. We envisaged one GP surgery per week, with two further sessions relating to the hospital speciality for that rotation which may have been in primary care – e.g. minor surgery sessions, chronic disease management clinics and so on. All our LIFT tracks were rich in clinical experience and provided the expected standard of teaching and learning, as well as clinical and educational supervision. The doctors produced have been well-versed in patient-centred practice and a full range of care pathways. These programmes were fully evaluated throughout the two year programme.

 

For more information on LIFT please click here

 

To see a summary of all the LIFT programmes that were available within the school please click here.  

In the current foundation training environment the notion of trainee, trainer and patient having a symbiotic learning relationship can be easily lost.  In the United States, the work of Dr David Hirsh and others has shown great value in the continuity of integrated training and the detrimental effect of compartmentalized attachments.  The work of David Hirsh has been significant in the conception of the Longitudinal Integrated Foundation Training pilot set up by the North West Foundation School.  As part of the induction programme to LIFT David Hirsh gave a skype presentation to the North West LIFT trainees on the background to longitudinal training and the benefits and proven value of integrated learning.   

 

 

A number of guidance documents have been produced to help support Foundation Programme Directors and GP Trainers facilitate the supervision of trainees on LIFT programmes.  These guidance documents can be found on the Foundation Policies and Procedures page of the website.