Criterion 3: Health Condition or Disability

You have a health condition (physical or mental health) or disability for which treatment and ongoing follow up for the condition in the specified location is an absolute requirement.

You must describe how your circumstances have changed and why you need to move to a different foundation school region.

You must present clear arguments as to why follow up arrangements and treatment can’t continue as it presently does.

Criterion requires

  • Your circumstances must have changed since the point of initial application to the 2-year foundation programme (if you haven’t yet started the Foundation Programme) or your circumstances have changed since commencing your foundation training (current F1 or F2 doctors in training).
  • As you already have this health condition or disability, it is expected that you will remain at your current address, and your IFST application will be to the foundation school local to that address. You must already have proof of address for the same foundation school area.
  • If the request for a transfer is not for the foundation school local to your current address, relevant evidence must be supplied as to why follow up arrangements could not continue as present. The requirement is to provide information as to where your treatment needs to take place.
  • There must be an absolute requirement for the specialist treatment to continue in the location where it is already taking place, and the signatory who is supporting the application must explain why this is and why it can’t be provided in another part of the UK.
  • The treatment must have already begun at the point of application, and the signatory must make clear why the treatment can’t be transferred to another location. If the request is for the treatment to be transferred to another location, the supporting signatory must explain why this is necessary.

Criterion does not support

  • Applications under this criterion which are on the basis of treatment which hasn’t yet begun and/or are from applicants who plan on starting future treatment in their area of choice (and don’t yet have a treatment plan), are unlikely to be approved. 
  • Health conditions which require infrequent attendance at outpatient appointments can be accommodated within Foundation training. Applicants who have requested an IFST to a foundation school for this reason are likely to have their application rejected.
  • An IFST application cannot be for one foundation school, with the treatment taking place in a different foundation school area.

This term refers to the provision and management of specialist healthcare treatment (and related services) which are being provided by one or more health care providers. The healthcare specialist managing the treatment is expected to complete the supporting signatory section of the application form.
 
Applicants should note that support networks and requests to live with or near to family members or partners will not be considered as “specialist treatment”.

A request for an IFST to a particular foundation school for the reason of being near a support network will not be considered “treatment” even though it is understood that it can help improve mental health. GPs and Therapists may state that allocation or relocation to a specific area will help an applicant’s mental health and this isn’t disputed, but in the context of this application process these applications are unlikely to be approved on solely this basis.

GPs cannot be used as a supporting signatory for criterion 3 Health Condition or Disability. This is because applications under this criterion must be supported by a healthcare specialist  who is already directly involved with managing the specialist treatment that the applicant is already receiving.

Under the Equality Act 2010, employers have a legal responsibility to make reasonable adjustments for disabled staff.  Employers must make reasonable adjustments to make sure workers with disabilities, or physical or mental health conditions, are not substantially disadvantaged when doing their jobs.
 
Adjustments may include (for example) flexible working hours, assistive technology and alternative communication methods. Information can be found on the NHS Employers website and the UK government website.

When an applicant is allocated to a Foundation School and matched to an employing Trust or Health Board, consideration should be given to whether reasonable adjustments may need to be put in place by the employing organisation.  

The UKFPO are not the employing organisation, and applicants and current foundation doctors are advised to contact their Foundation School for advice and a discussion with their employer as soon as possible about the adjustments they may need at work.

Completing the application form for criterion 3

Part 1 of the application form must be completed by you in which you describe your health condition or disability and ongoing treatment.

  • If you have also had adaptations made at home for a disability, please explain what these are, in addition to the specialist treatment you are receiving (applications which require an IFST solely on the basis of remaining in adapted housing must be submitted under criterion 4 Extraordinary Circumstances).

Part 2 of the application form must be completed by the current healthcare specialist who is already treating your health condition or disability in which they are required to:

  • describe your current health condition (physical or mental health), or disability
  • describe the nature of the ongoing specialist treatment
  • confirm the frequency of the ongoing specialist treatment
  • explain why the follow up treatment must be delivered in a specific location rather than by other treatment centres in the UK, and why this is an absolute requirement.

Part 3 of the application form must be completed by the Foundation School Director (or deputy) at the foundation school within which you are already in a training programme, or have been allocated to.

Part 4 of the application does not contain any section that requires completion or a signature. However, the information provided should be read and understood by the applicant.

The information provided by the supporting signatory needs to be legible, clear and explicit.

Download the application form

Supporting evidence requirements

You are required to provide the following supporting evidence

  1. Proof of current address in your name, and which is in the area of the foundation school that you need to transfer to (see proof of address guidance for list of acceptable documents).

Supporting signatory requirements

The supporting signatory must:

  • be the current healthcare specialist who is already treating your health condition or disability.  
  • be over the age of 18.
  • have known the applicant for 1 month or more.  In circumstances where this is not the case, the applicant must provide an explanation as to why their supporting signatory has not known them longer, and why an alternative signatory could not be used to support the application.
  • not be in a personal relationship with the applicant.
  • not live at the same address as the applicant.
  • not be related to the applicant by birth or marriage.
  • not be a doctor in training of any grade (up to ST8).