UKFPO Bulletin

Posted on:

April Bulletin

Image of the word 'April' written in purple and blue stripes with a yellow and orange sun and green roots, leaves and a bird decorated on it.

Stress Awareness Month

Lesbian Visibility Day – 26 April

Other national campaigns this month

Action for happiness calendar – Active April

Introduction

Welcome to the April edition of the UKFPO bulletin. I hope that Foundation doctor readers are getting their e-portfolio ready for their rapidly approaching ARCP – more about that next month. If you’re unsure what you need to do, then please ask the faculty at your hospital – your supervisors, training programme director and foundation co-ordinators.

Sharing Good Practice

Healthcare services throughout the world are often accused of not ensuring that good practice is spread out – the NHS is no different. There are places where great work is done by Foundation doctors and their supervisors, as shown at the National Foundation Doctors Presentation Day, which I discussed in my February bulletin introduction, and then also last week at an event jointly hosted by Medical Education Leaders (UK) and UKFPO (Foundation Sharing Best Practice Event).

At this annual event, we heard about some brilliant initiatives and innovations in Foundation Programme training from all across the country. It was a privilege to meet the Foundation programme doctors and teaching fellows who had designed some great ways of teaching, learning and training, showing the talent present in our resident doctors that reassures me about the future of medical education and our profession in general.

Faculty

It was also lovely to speak to faculty members – programme directors and supervisors from many different places. These people will have driven innovation locally whilst supporting many cohorts of Foundation doctors over the years. They work exceptionally hard, frequently going over and above their allocated time for their supervisory duties. I would like to thank all Foundation Programme educational and named clinical supervisors for their efforts in ensuring safe training and supporting Foundation doctors as they progress through.

Telling the system what you think

I have heard recent comments about resident doctors feeling a bit lost in the ‘system’ – and it is a huge system, the NHS is the largest employer in the UK and one of the top five largest employers globally (it is consistently ranked as one of the world’s largest workforces, often cited behind only the US Department of Defence, Chinese military, Walmart and Amazon!). The GMC’s National training survey is now open, and this is an important opportunity for you to tell the ‘system’ about your training.

I am very aware that you get lots of surveys, and the UKFPO stops a lot more being sent to you. However, it is fair to say that the National training survey is probably the most important in terms of seeing how education and training of resident doctors is going. The results of the survey have led to many changes to the Foundation Programme, locally and nationally, during my career in medical education. Please give up some time to fill it in – it’s an opportunity for you to say when it’s good as well as when not so good!

You can find more information about the National training survey in the next section of this bulletin.

As ever, look after yourselves and each other.

Dr Mike Masding, National Clinical Director, UKFPO

Notices and announcements

GMC National training survey 2026

The 2026 GMC NTS is now open. If you are a foundation doctor who was in post on the census date (24 March 2026), please take the short time (approximately 20 minutes) to complete the survey. Further information on the GMC website: GMC National training survey

Spotlight on educational resources

SCRIPT elearning – Module spotlight

Spring refresh your respiratory related knowledge! This month, we are spotlighting two respiratory modules:

‘Respiratory Medicine: Asthma and COPD’

‘Respiratory Medicine: Oxygen, Smoking Cessation, and Inhalers’

The ‘Respiratory Medicine: Asthma and COPD’ module discusses Asthma and COPD (of course!) Importantly, it reflects some key changes in the latest NICE guidelines. For example, a low-dose corticosteroid/formoterol combination inhaler (such as Symbicort 200/6 Turbohaler®) is now recommended for adults and children aged 12 and over, when required, as a reliever. This is a significant change in clinical practice as, historically, salbutamol would have been used.

The ‘Respiratory Medicine: Oxygen, Smoking Cessation and Inhalers’ module includes prescribing oxygen in acute and long-term settings, how nicotine replacement products can support smoking cessation, devices available to deliver inhaled drug therapy (and how to select an appropriate device for your patient) and the management of pneumonia in secondary care. All foundation doctors have free access to SCRIPT. You can sign up and access SCRIPT here: https://foundation.safeprescriber.org/login

Webinars

Recent webinars

Upcoming webinars

See our Webinars page for recordings of our most recent webinars.

If there are any specific topics you think we have missed or you wish for us to cover in our educational webinar series, please send your suggestions to foundation.educationandsupport@nhs.net

Opportunities and events

HQIP – Call for resident doctors: Showcase your audit on a national stage

Clinical Audit Awareness Week (#CAAW26) is a national, annual campaign run by Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) that aims to improve and save lives by promoting and celebrating the critical role of clinical audit and data-driven healthcare improvement. The campaign, being held 22-26 June 2026, includes the Excellence in Clinical Audit Awards and a series of webinars that support clinicians, healthcare planners and clinical audit and improvement teams in using this vitally important data to raise standards, reduce variation in care, and ensure every patient receives the best possible treatment.

As part of this year’s Clinical Audit Awareness Week programme, HQIP is inviting resident doctors to submit proposals by 30 April 2026 for a short presentation that showcases how clinical audit data has been used to improve patient care. The selected presenter will have the opportunity to present their work during a national Clinical Audit Awareness Week webinar on 26 June 2026, sharing their learning with a wide multidisciplinary audience from across the NHS. This offers the opportunity to gain national visibility for their work, develop their presentation profile, and demonstrate their contribution to quality improvement and patient outcomes.

Humans of the Foundation Programme

New articles published this month:

See our Humans of the Foundation Programme webpage for more information, including how to submit your own article. We invite honesty and openness, and also encourage you to consider the impact on your employer, foundation school and colleagues. Please discuss any specific issues or challenges you are experiencing with your local team, and seek support when needed.

We invite honesty and openness, and also encourage you to consider the impact on your employer, foundation school and colleagues. Please discuss any specific issues or challenges you are experiencing with your local team, and seek support when needed.

Elfh update

Review the March 2026 elfh update