Applicants to the Foundation Programme must either be nominated by a UK medical school, or apply via the UKFPO Eligibility application process.
UK Medical School Nomination – final year students
UK final year students will be nominated by their medical school to apply for the 2027 Foundation Programme if they are expected to qualify by 03 August 2027. The medical school will provide a list of applicant names to the UKFPO of every eligible final year student who is expected to apply for the programme.
UK applicants who are due to be nominated are advised to check the exact email address their medical school will be using for them (for example, some medical schools provide students with more than one email address or ‘alias’).
Re-nomination by a UK Medical School – UK graduate
Applicants who have qualified from a UK medical school on or after 04 August 2025 can be re-nominated by their medical school to apply/re-apply for the 2027 Foundation Programme. This includes applicants who chose to withdraw from their allocated 2026 Foundation Programme so that they can re-apply for the 2027 programme.
Applicants who wish to be re-nominated must inform their medical school in August of their intention to re-apply to the foundation programme (if they are not already aware) so that the medical school can include their details in their nomination data submission.
Applicants who are not re-nominated in time will not have their details entered into Oriel and will not be able to submit an application.
Applicants who have qualified from a UK medical school on or prior to 03 August 2025 cannot be re-nominated by their medical school. These applicants must apply via the Eligibility application process.
Eligibility application route
Applicants are required to apply via the Eligibility application process (prior to applying to the Foundation Programme) if one of the following applies to them:
The applicant is studying at or has qualified from a non-UK medical school;
OR
The applicant has qualified from a UK medical school on or prior to 03 August 2025
OR
The applicant is studying at or has qualified from a UK medical school campus outside of the UK, that is, St George’s University of London in Cyprus, Newcastle University Medicine in Malaysia (NUMed), or Queen Mary University of London in Malta. (This applies to both non-UK applicants and settled UK nationals.)
OR
One of the above applies to the applicant AND either they have applied in a previous recruitment cycle and their application was unsuccessful, or they withdrew their application and did not begin the Foundation training programme. (Applications do not carry forwards from year to year, and all applicants must submit a new application for the relevant recruitment year.)
Defence Deanery – UK military cadets
Applicants who are military cadets at a UK medical school do not need to apply via the national application process on Oriel for their foundation training programme. Military cadets are placed into selected foundation programmes which are managed separately by the Defence Postgraduate Medical Deanery (DPMD). The DPMD manages the placement of these students to foundation schools outside of the national UKFPO application process. Military cadets will be notified of this process directly by the DPMD.
UK medical schools do not need to include the details of their military cadets with their nomination data for Oriel as they are not required to take part in the national application process on Oriel.
Military cadets who think that they have been accidently nominated should notify either their medical school or the UKFPO via england.helpdesk.foundationprogramme@nhs.net and their details will be removed from Oriel.