F2 Stand-alone: Application FAQs

General

F2 Stand-alone programmes are one-year fixed-term posts. Applicants must hold or expect to hold full registration with the GMC by the start of the programme in August.

Stand-alone programmes are available for applicants who hold or are eligible for full registration with the General Medical Council (GMC). Stand-alone programmes provide an opportunity for overseas graduates who qualify with full registration to enter the training system in the UK. Stand-alone programmes do not provide an opportunity for current F1 doctors to move locations part-way through their two-year training programme.

No. Doctors who are already working as part of a recognised two-year foundation programme are not eligible to apply for F2 Stand-alone posts. F2 Stand-alone programmes are available for overseas graduates who would otherwise struggle to enter training in the UK.

If your circumstances have changed and there are specific reasons as to why you need to transfer to a different programme for your F2 year, you may be eligible to apply for a transfer based on set criteria. Please refer to the Inter-Foundation School Transfer (IFST) guidance available on the UKFPO website.

We would strongly advise you to speak to your Clinical and / or Educational Supervisor depending on your concerns. There will be support mechanisms available for you to access within your existing foundation school and / or employing organisation as appropriate.

No. Current F1s are not eligible for F2 Stand-alone recruitment.  In any case, very few F2 posts become available in London due to oversubscription at F1 level / to the two-year programme.

All applicants who meet the longlisting criteria will be required to undertake the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) as part of the recruitment process. The highest scoring applicants will be invited to interview, which will further assess clinical competence.

The Situational Judgement Test (SJT) is a test for employment and not a medical school exam. It forms part of the selection process for entry to foundation training to test the attributes needed to work as a doctor.

For more information on the SJT, please review our SJT FAQs.

No. This is not a requirement for recruitment to stand-alone programmes.

No. This is not a requirement for recruitment to stand-alone programmes.

All stand-alone posts commence at the start of the foundation training year at the beginning of August (typically the first Wednesday of the month). Stand-alone posts are fixed-term for one-year and the curriculum for foundation training is both time and competency based.

All foundation doctors will need to undertake the full year of training in order to achieve the requirements of the curriculum. If you are unlikely to be able to start a position you have accepted an offer for, you are advised to contact your allocated foundation school at the earliest possible convenience.

All foundation doctors are required to pass the PSA. F1 and F2 stand-alone doctors who have not previously passed the exam will be given the opportunity to sit the PSA during the course of the training year in September, March and May. 

All recruitment to foundation training posts is managed by the UK Foundation Programme Office. 

Foundation schools do not recruit to training posts separately. There may be Locum Appointment for Service (LAS) posts available for you to apply to. LAS posts are temporary posts without a recognised training component and are not usually assessed for the competencies required to complete a Foundation Programme. You would have a clinical supervisor, but not an educational supervisor. These posts are usually advertised by individual employing organisations (hospital trusts) via www.jobs.nhs.uk.

Any applicant who has previously resigned or has been removed from foundation training or a one-year standalone programme will be required to declare this on their application form and submit a reapplication to foundation training form. However, you can only apply if you have or expect to hold full registration with the GMC.

Applicants should upload the completed and signed form to the ‘document upload functionality’ in Oriel by the deadline for applications. 

Application Form

All applications should be submitted through the Oriel (national online application system). Applicants can access Oriel via https://www.oriel.nhs.uk. Applicants are advised to start their applications early to allow sufficient time to complete the necessary sections of the application form and to gather evidence in support of their application.

All applicants must first register an account on Oriel before applying to a particular vacancy. Applicants for the Foundation Programme must register under the ‘Foundation’ staff group by selecting the ‘UK Foundation Programme’ logo icon on the homepage.

This is a self-declaration part of the application form. It is expected that most applicants will not have anything to declare. You will only be required to provide information if you have been subject to disciplinary proceedings whilst at medical school or during your training.

This section will be assessed during the interview rather than the application form. Applicants will be asked at least one clinical scenario as part of the interview process.

No. Linking only applies to the allocation process to the two-year Foundation Programme. Applicants for F2 stand-alone posts will not be able to link their applications.

Work experience is any employment undertaken after medical school.

You must provide contact details, including e-mail addresses, of three referees who have supervised your clinical training during the last two years of your employment or undergraduate training. One referee must be your current or most recent consultant or educational supervisor.

NHS pre-employment checks require your NHS employer to take up references spanning the last three years of your work and education. You may be required to provide further referee details to your NHS employer, if appointed.

A person who has supervised your clinical training in the last two years of your employment or undergraduate training. One referee must be your current or most recent consultant or educational supervisor.

No. Evidence of a minimum of three months paid employment as a clinician in the NHS is required. This experience must be demonstrable at the time of application.

Consultant testimonies will be accepted for work in both general practice and hospital settings. Please be advised that this evidence will not be accepted if it relates to employment on an ad-hoc locum basis.

If you graduated from a medical school outside of the UK, EEA or Switzerland, you’ll probably need to take the PLAB test. For more information please visit our GMC registration FAQs and the GMC website.

You can check the contact details of your referee on Oriel. You can also change referee details yourself on Oriel up until the referencing window closes or the reference is submitted, whichever comes first.

If the referee details are correct, please email helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk so we can look into this for you.

Please review Appendix 4 of the F2 Stand-alone Guidance and our English Language Eligibility FAQs, which contain detailed information on what can be submitted as evidence of English Language proficiency.

Please note, evidence of English Language proficiency must be submitted at the time of application.

Longlisting

The UKFPO will carry out a central process of longlisting in accordance with the eligibility criteria, which can be found on page 8 of the F2 Stand-alone guidance.

Applicants are required to provide evidence of a valid ILS certificate or equivalent by the start of the programme.

If you do not have ILS or equivalent at the point at which you accept an offer. You are advised to discuss this with your foundation school and / or employing organisation at the earliest opportunity. Your employer might be able to arrange for you to undertake ILS shortly after you commence in post.

Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) – valid for 4 years

Advanced Life Support (ALS) – valid for 4 years

Immediate Life Support (ILS) – valid for 1 year

Please refer to the F2 Stand-alone guidance.

Interviews

Each panel interview will be scheduled for a duration of 20 minutes. Applicants will be asked a series of questions, including a clinical scenario.

Interview panels will consist of at least 2 panel members who are familiar with the curriculum and assessments of the UK Foundation Programme. At least one panel member will be a clinician.

All eligible applicants will be required to attend an interview as part of the recruitment process. All interviews will be conducted virtually through Microsoft Teams using video technology.

Applicants will also be required to show photographic identification at the start of the video interview and move the camera around the room so that the panel can ensure that the applicant is alone. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure a robust internet connection and a suitable, quiet location to conduct the interview.

Please refer to the timeline in the F2 Stand-alone guidance. 

All applicants will receive a breakdown of their scores for each interview question and detailed feedback from the panel. There will be no opportunity to appeal the outcome of the interview.

The onus is on the applicant to ensure they have stable connection throughout the interview. If there are disruptions on the applicant’s end, the interview will not be rescheduled or extended.

Offers & Preferencing

Please refer to the timeline in the F2 Stand-alone guidance.  

There will be no further opportunity for applicants to rank programme preferences or to amend their preferences in Oriel once the deadline has been reached.

You will be randomly matched to programmes in rank order secondary to applicants who actively ranked programmes in the ‘preference’ column.

All applicants will be given a unique rank based on their interview score.

Applicants will receive offers based on a meritocratic algorithm whereby the highest scoring applicant will be matched to their highest programme preference choice available. The system will attempt to match applicants to their highest choice in the first instance and work through the list of preferences in rank order.

Please refer to the timeline in the F2 Stand-alone guidance.

There will also be a clearing process conducted later in the timeline.

Applicants have 48-hours to respond to their offer. If the deadline to either accept or decline the offer is missed, the offer will expire and will automatically be declined. No further offers will be made.

You will need to withdraw from the whole process and if you wish, reapply next year. Please email helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk to withdraw.

Oriel

To set up a new account and register, go to www.oriel.nhs.uk. All applicants must first register an account on Oriel before applying to a particular vacancy. Applicants for the Foundation Programme must register under the ‘Foundation’ staff group by selecting the ‘UK Foundation Programme’ logo icon on the homepage.

For further FAQs about Oriel, please refer to our Oriel FAQs page.

Your SJT score can be found in the ‘Application Summary’ on Oriel.

Right to Work

If the applicant is not a UK national, they must be in a position to demonstrate that they have the right to work as a doctor in training in the UK by the start of the programme. Applications from doctors who require Tier 2 sponsorship are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

For more information on Right to Work, please visit our Right to Work/Visa FAQs or the Home Office website.

Please note, HEE and the UKFPO are not qualified immigration advisors and cannot offer immigration advice.

More information on the F2 Stand-alone Programme can be found on our F2 Stand-alone Programme page.