If you qualified from medical school on or before 03 August 2025, you must take and pass the Clinical Assessment (CA) as a condition of your eligibility to apply to the Foundation Programme.
The purpose of the CA is to evaluate your fitness to begin work as a foundation doctor if you obtained your primary medical qualification more than two years prior to the start of the Foundation Programme.
Non-urgent advice: Important
There are no exceptions or exemptions. If you qualified from medical school on or before 03 August 2025, you must take and pass the Clinical Assessment (CA) as a condition of your eligibility to apply to the Foundation Programme, regardless of your citizenship, nationality, country of medical school, or GMC registration status. This is a requirement which forms part of the national person specification for entry to foundation training in the UK.
The UKFPO’s Clinical Assessments are conducted exclusively for the purpose of the eligibility application; therefore, alternative assessments are not accepted.
Description of the Clinical Assessment (CA)
The assessments will be delivered by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. The team at Manchester has many years of experience of assessment and Clinical Competence Assessments (CCAs), from theoretical design, through evaluation to the practical provision of information to candidates. All candidates will sit a set of 12-station CCAs. Each station is 10 minutes long, including 1 minute of preparation time.
All candidates will sit this assessment in one session (approximately 4 hours). Instructions will be posted outside each station, giving clear guidance about the task to be performed at that station. In line with current practice, care will be taken to ensure accessibility and to avoid discrimination against candidates with disabilities or those whose first language is not English.
The assessment will differ from day to day but will be based on a similar format. Candidates sitting the assessment in the morning or afternoon will be ‘quarantined’ to ensure they cannot come into contact with each other. Candidates will be unable to use their mobile phones during this period.
Fees and payment
If you need to complete the CA, you will be responsible for covering the full cost of £1,000 (GBP). The UKFPO is unable to provide financial support or offer any discount towards the Clinical Assessment fee.
Non-urgent advice: Payment window
The UKFPO will contact all eligible applicants who need to take the Clinical Assessment with full instructions on how to make payment. Payments can be made immediately upon receipt of the email. Please do not attempt to make a payment before receiving the email instructions.
The payment window will close at 12:00 midday (BST) on 17 September 2026. If you do not make payment by this deadline, your application will be withdrawn from the process.
Assessment dates and venue
The assessments will take place on 09, 10, 11 and 12 November 2026. You will only need to attend on one of these dates.
You will be allocated a specific date and time for the assessment. It is not possible for you to choose which date you sit the Clinical Assessment, and we can’t accommodate requests for preferred dates. You will be notified of your assessment date on 05 October 2026.
You will also be supplied with more detailed information, including directions to the venue. The assessments take place at Wythenshawe Hospital and Oxford Road Campus, both of which are part of the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. These venues have excellent facilities.
If you need to apply for a visa to enter the UK to attend the Clinical Assessment
If you need a visa to enter the UK to attend the Clinical Assessment, the UKFPO can provide you with a letter to help support your application. Contact england.helpdesk.foundationprogramme@nhs.net to request this.
We can only provide a letter after you have paid the Clinical Assessment fee.
Non-urgent advice: Clashes with PLAB exam dates
We anticipate that some PLAB exam sittings will clash with Clinical Assessment dates. If you will need to take the Clinical Assessment and expect to sit PLAB around this time, please be aware of this when scheduling.
If you already have a PLAB exam booked and you need to let us know of a potential clash, email your PLAB booking confirmation along with your Oriel PIN to england.helpdesk.foundationprogramme@nhs.net and we will be happy to assist you.
Reasonable adjustments
Reasonable adjustments are practical changes to the delivery of the assessment, intended to reduce the impact of specific circumstances – such as a disability, health condition, or religious observance – without altering the standards or requirements of the assessment, or the score achieved by any candidate.
If you need reasonable adjustments
You may apply for reasonable adjustments on the following grounds:
– A long-standing learning disability
– A long-term or permanent physical disability, health condition or impairment
– Temporary health condition or impairment, or acute flare-up of a long-term health condition
– Other, for example, religious observance
If you wish to apply for reasonable adjustments, you must email england.helpdesk.foundationprogramme@nhs.net with the completed Reasonable Adjustment form [document coming soon] and relevant supporting evidence of your requirements by no later than 12:00 (midday, BST) on 17 September 2026.
Further information
Simulated patients
These will be selected from the Wythenshawe Hospital’s pool of highly experienced simulated patients. All have undergone training in standardisation for CCAs and will be trained specifically for the roles within these assessments.
Educational impact
Candidates will be given a written report, analysing their performance on a station-by-station basis. As the stations are explicitly linked to many of the Foundation Programme curriculum competences of the Foundation Year 1 doctor, this will provide useful information for candidates on their strengths and weaknesses as they enter the Foundation Programme. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust is working closely with their colleagues in the North West of England Foundation School to ensure that the questions authentically represent the current NHS working environment.
What feedback will be provided on the day of the assessment?
You will not be told your result on the day of your assessment.
You will receive the pass/fail result and comprehensive feedback by email.
Appeals
Information about the appeals procedure will be available on the UKFPO website before the start date of the assessments.
Appeals will only be considered on procedural grounds (for example, failure to follow due process) and not on the academic or professional judgment of examiners.
Refer to the eligibility timeline for dates regarding Clinical Assessment appeals.