UKFPO National Clinical Director blog – August 2026

The start of August is an important time for all those who graduated from a UK medical school. Every year, thousands of doctors begin their postgraduate medical career. Despite it being over 30 years ago, before many of you were born, I can still clearly remember my first day as what was then called a pre-registration house officer (the equivalent of F1). It was scary to make the change from medical student to doctor, but also exciting as that was what I had trained for!

Making the transition

I think that the transition from student to doctor, the first time you realise that your decisions actually matter, will always cause feelings of fear mixed with anticipation but I can assure you that the support for you as a new doctor has massively increased since the Foundation Programme started in 2005.

Your training programme director, educational supervisor and named clinical supervisor are all there to help you with your training. They will make sure that you can achieve everything that you will need to successfully complete your Foundation Programme training. On the wards, there will be lots of people who will help you, if you ask: senior doctors, other resident doctors, nurses, physios and other healthcare professionals. Don’t be shy – if you’re not sure what to do, ask someone!

There are also lots of resources highlighted on our home page to support those of you preparing for F1.

The Foundation Programme curriculum

This month, the revised curriculum will be introduced for everyone in a Foundation Programme, both F1 and F2. This revision puts more of an emphasis on vital matters such as patient safety, sustainability and fairer training cultures, all of which should be of fundamental importance to all doctors. There are no new specific requirements to successfully complete the Foundation Programme training year, but hopefully these changes will make us all think about the importance of safe care and prescribing.

There are lots of curriculum resources on the UKFPO website, for Foundation doctors and faculty:

• UK FP Curriculum
• What has changed
• UKFP Curriculum 2021 (2026 Revision) – Introduction – Watch on YouTube
• UKFP Curriculum 2021 (2026 Revision) – Summary for trainers and supervisors – watch on YouTube

Other UKFPO work

I know, from lots of conversations that I’ve had during my time as National Clinical Director, that many people think that all the UKFPO does is manage the allocation of Foundation Programme posts. Whilst that is a very big piece of work involving lots of stakeholders, UKFPO does a lot more besides that. Examples include:

• Working with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Foundation Programme Committee to produce the curriculum
• National guidance on assessment of Foundation doctors, including end of year assessments (ARCP)
• E-portfolio management, including help for Foundation doctors on how to make the most of their portfolio
• Educational and training opportunities:
  • Webinars produced by UKFPO on a variety of different subjects, which can be watched on our YouTube channel
  • SCRIPT prescribing training, which are suitable for all Foundation doctors
  • Preparation for the Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA)
  • Publicising nationally available learning opportunities – for instance, the National Genomics teaching session on 28 September (which will count towards ‘core learning’) and elearning for healthcare (elfh)
  • Working with stakeholders on career exploration opportunities – for example the Royal College of Psychiatrists Foundation doctor conference on 15 October
• Organising events and meetings for Foundation doctors and faculty:
  • Our ‘flagship’ event is the National Foundation Doctors Presentation Day, which will next be held in January 2027
  • Foundation doctor representatives attend the Foundation Doctors Advisory Board to ensure that UKFPO gets feedback on experiences within the programme
  • Regular meetings with Foundation School Directors and Managers, and lots of external stakeholders, such as GMC, Medical Schools Council and BMA

UKFPO Fellows

Every year, UKFPO appoints two F2 doctors to work with us as Fellows for a day a week alongside their Foundation training. As well as learning and developing clinical and procedural skills, there are lots of really important professional skills that you will develop as you progress through your career as a doctor, and our Fellows were appointed due to demonstrating excellent professional skills such as leadership and teamworking.  

I would like to thank Drs Kaveeta Malhi and Devon Ward who were UKFPO Fellows for 2025-26. They have been excellent representatives of Foundation doctors at various meetings, have completed great projects on Thrival guides, self-development time and use of the e-portfolio, and contributed greatly with our work. On behalf of UKFPO, I would like to wish them the very best of luck in their future careers.  

I look forward to working with our new Fellows, Drs Aisia Lea and Sammy Shareef, and I will be talking more about their work in future blogs. Meanwhile, they have both introduced themselves on our Fellow projects and bios webpage.

Current F1 doctors will have the opportunity to apply for 2027-28 UKFPO Fellowships in March 2027, so if you’re interested look out for that nearer the time.

To close…

To close this month’s blog:

• For those of you starting in F1: good luck as you start your medical career
• For those of you already in the Foundation Programme: I hope you continue to progress and develop as you move through your different posts
• For faculty and admin staff: thanks very much for all that you do to support Foundation doctors

Take care of yourselves and each other

Dr Mike Masding

National Clinical Director

UKFPO