NHS England and the Medical Schools Council have joined forces to launch a new partnership intended to give students the opportunity to apply directly to medical schools for certain Specialised Foundation Programmes in England.
The Specialised Foundation Programme has been created to offer medical school graduates the opportunity to develop skills in research, teaching and leadership alongside their core medical foundation training.
Students who have demonstrated that they have the interest, aptitude and commitment to pursue a career in academia, leadership or education will be able to apply through their medical school for an SFP post in the Foundation School linked to the medical school.
This means that election for one third of the posts for the Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP) in England for 2025 will be managed directly by medical schools with support from the Medical Schools Council (MSC).
Those that are successful will be assigned to SFP posts in the Foundation School local to their medical school. NHS England will inform medical schools of the number of SFP posts allocated pro rata to each medical school.
Guidelines will be developed by the MSC to encourage consistency and the outcomes will be monitored.
The remaining two thirds of SFP posts will be managed by NHS England through the preference informed allocation process (PIA).
Professor Sheona MacLeod, director of education and training at NHS England said: “We received considerable feedback on the plans for managing the Specialist Foundation Programme process in England, when they were announced in February.
“We have been engaging with key stakeholders such as the Medical Schools Council, British Medical Association and representatives from academic bodies such as National Institution for Health and care Research, the Academy of Medical Sciences and InterACt, to see whether any further changes could be made. This change is a result of this engagement.
“We shall continue to monitor the process, and this will help inform decisions for how it will be managed in the future.”
Dr Katie Petty-Saphon, chief executive at the Medical Schools Council said: “The Medical Schools Council was delighted that NHS England recognised the need to ringfence a number of Specialist Foundation Programme posts as part of the national strategy to support clinical academic careers.
“Medical schools look forward to working more closely with their colleagues in foundation schools to ensure that trainees all have fruitful and productive experiences and that we continue to optimise the opportunities provided in all SFP posts.
“Students do though need to be aware that an SFP is not the only route into a clinical academic career and that there will be multiple opportunities to gain relevant experience during their training.”
