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Foundation Recruitment

Choose Northern Ireland as your first choice for Foundation Training

Some Trusts are undergoing major reconfiguration of services and occasionally services are moved due to unforeseen circumstances. Posts in some programmes may change in location prior to August 2025.

There are five Health and Social Care Trusts or Local Education Providers (LEP) in Northern Ireland who contribute to the education and Training of foundation doctors.

Each Trust has a Director of Medical Education who is the doctor who is responsible to the Deanery for the quality control processes within each Trust with respect to all doctors in training posts which may be Foundation, General Practice or Specialty.


Foundation Programmes 2025 – 2027

Timetable for Foundation Programme Recruitment:

Oriel Registration Opens 17th September 2024
Application Window Opens 25th September 2024
Application Window Closes 09th October 2024 (12:00 midday BST)

Northern Ireland Foundation School (NIFS) Specialised Foundation Programmes 

All applicants allocated to NI for Foundation training will have the opportunity to apply for a Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP). These programmes focus on academic research or medical education.

 

Specialised Foundation Programmes available in Northern Ireland

The NIFS offers 15 Specialised Foundation Programmes in conjunction with Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and Ulster University (UU) in Derry/Londonderry.

During the F2 year of SFP, there is a dedicated 4-month placement in research/medical education.

Of the 15 SFPs available in NI, 12 have their F2 year based in Belfast with clinical placements in the Belfast Trust hospitals. Their research disciplines are affiliated with QUB. Further information can be found here.

The remaining 3 SFPs in NI have their F2 year based in Derry/Londonderry with their clinical placements in Altnagelvin Area Hospital in the Western Trust. Their research disciplines are affiliated to UU. Further information can be found here.

QUB disciplines and UU disciplines are NOT interchangeable.  

A list of available disciplines can be found below:

Combined Available Disciplines


Specialised Foundation Programmes 2024 – 2026

 

Application Process

In addition to ranking our 279 standard Foundation Programmes (FPs), all applicants allocated to NIFS will have the opportunity to be considered for one of our 15 SFPs.

Details of how to rank all programmes (FP and SFP) will be provided along with other essential welcome information at the point of allocation to NIFS.

Applicants who wish to be considered for an SFP will have to complete a separate form which includes questions designed to identify applicants with the greatest aptitude and motivation to undertake an SFP. Forms will be considered and scored by QUB and UU academic representatives. The top scoring applications will be offered an SFP, and the remaining applicants will be allocated a standard FP. 

 

The application window for F2 Standalone Recruitment starting in August 2024 opens 9th January 2024 and closes on 23rd January 2024.

Applications are made through the Oriel System.

If you have any queries regarding this programme, please contact UKFPO team via helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk or visit https://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk for further information.

Please note applicants  who are currently working as part of the two-year programme or have successfully completed the F2 year and  received a Foundation  Achievement of Competency Document (FACD) / Foundation  Programme Certificate of Completion  (FPCC) are not eligible to apply for F2 stand-alone  posts. Current F1 trainees  are advised  to consider  alternate  guidance  in relation  to options  for applying for an Inter-Foundation  School Transfer (IFST).

Pre-Allocation to the NI Foundation School

If you need to be allocated to a particular Foundation School due to your personal circumstances such as caring responsibilities, health reasons or for ongoing educational support, and your circumstances meet one of the national criteria, you can apply for pre-allocation to that particular Foundation School in the main application form on Oriel. For further information on the national pre-allocation process, please refer to the UKFPO website here.

Those who are pre-allocated to the Northern Ireland Foundation School are only allocated to the School, not a particular area within it. Should you need to be in a specific geographical area, a Special Circumstances application will be required.

Linked Applications

If you wish to be allocated to the same Foundation School as another applicant, you can choose to link your FP application to the other applicant on Oriel. Further information can be found here on the UKFPO website. Northern Ireland will honour linked application to a School level but cannot guarantee you will be allocated to the same area within the School as your linked applicant.

Requirements for Starting Foundation Training:

Pre-Placement Health Assessments (PPHA)

All trainee doctors and dentists will require a PPHA prior to taking up their first post with the Northern Ireland Deanery. Trainees will normally only be required to have one PPHA check on entry to the health service in NI as a doctor or dentist in training. However, if there is a break in training at the Northern Ireland Deanery or a period of out of programme (OOP) for more than 4 weeks in a high risk TB country an additional assessment will be required.

Trainees who are required to complete a PPHA will be notified of this by email.
The assessments will take place at the following locations:

  • F1 doctors undertaking a clinical assistantship within Northern Ireland will complete their assessment during this period, at the hospital where their clinical assistantship is being undertaken.
  • The Professional Support department will email all other trainee doctors and dentists to advise them of the OH department that they should submit their forms to.

Documentation Required

The following forms must be downloaded and returned (in either PDF or word format) with the additional documentation as detailed on the ‘Immunisation and Screening Checklist for PPHA’

• Regional HSC Pre-Placement Health Questionnaire
• TB Pre-Placement Screening Form
• Consent Form NIMDTA Sharing Information

You will also be required to provide evidence of your vaccination history when completing the PPHA, please ensure you have this information readily available in order to expedite the process. Vaccination details may be obtained from GP Practices, OH Departments or Student Occupational Health Providers. Please note it can take up to 4 weeks for some organisations to provide this information on request.

If you require an appointment the relevant Occupational Health Department will be in contact with you in due course with details of the appointment.

Please ensure that you also read the ‘TB Professional Responsibility’ form.

For further information about the PPHA process, please download the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’

PPHA Contact Email Addresses

The Professional Support department will confirm which OH department you need to forward your documentation to. The email addresses are as follows:

Belfast PEHAoccHealth@belfasttrust.hscni.net
Northern occhealth.recruit@northerntrust.hscni.net
South Eastern occhealth.recruit@setrust.hscni.net
Southern Occupational.Health@southerntrust.hscni.net
Western – Altnagelvin occupational.health@westerntrust.hscni.net
Western – SWAH occup.health.south@westerntrust.hscni.net

Data Privacy

The following documents outline how NIMDTA and occupational health will process, store and share your personal information.

• Occupational Health Privacy Notice
• NIMDTA Information Sharing Policy

If you have any queries in relation to these documents, contact us via the details below:

Email:pecs.nimdta@hscni.net

Tel: 028 9536 0224

If you have any questions specifically relating to the Northern Ireland Foundation School, please email: foundation.nimdta@hscni.net