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Introduction
Applying for your first hospital job as a doctor can seem like a daunting task. The UKFPO has designed this handbook to answer all your questions about the recruitment process and FPAS (the online Foundation Programme Application System). Our medical student advisors have helped us put it together to ensure all the important points are covered. Further information is available at: www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk. FPAS (the national online application process for the Foundation Programme 2012) is used for allocating Foundation Programme places commencing in August 2012 across the UK, covering England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. If you are applying for an Academic Foundation Programme, there is a separate process, which begins earlier than the main recruitment round. For more information, go to: http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/academic-programmes/how-to-apply.

Contents
TIMELINE AND OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS .....................................................................3 BEFORE YOU APPLY ...............................................................................................................4 ARE YOU ELIGIBLE?...................................................................................................................4 REGISTERING & ENROLLING ONLINE ...........................................................................................4 PRE-ALLOCATION TO A PARTICULAR FOUNDATION SCHOOL BASED ON SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES..4 CONTACTING YOU .....................................................................................................................5 THE FPAS APPLICATION FORM .............................................................................................5 PERSONAL ................................................................................................................................5 Disabilities and personal health...........................................................................................5 Linked applications..............................................................................................................5 QUALIFICATIONS .......................................................................................................................6 CLINICAL SKILLS ........................................................................................................................7 EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES.............................................................................................................7 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................8 Helping your referees ..........................................................................................................8 The reference form..............................................................................................................1 QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................10 TIPS FOR WRITING GOOD ANSWERS .........................................................................................15 PREFERENCES ........................................................................................................................16 Competition Ratios for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011..........................................................16 SUBMIT ...................................................................................................................................18 Probity ...............................................................................................................................18 Data Protection..................................................................................................................18 DOS AND DONTS FOR COMPLETING YOUR FORM ....................................................................19 SCORING .................................................................................................................................20 NUMBER OF POINTS AVAILABLE ................................................................................................20 HOW EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS ARE SCORED.....................................................................20 HOW QUESTIONS 1-5 ARE SCORED ..........................................................................................20 ALLOCATION TO A FOUNDATION SCHOOL........................................................................21 MATCHING TO A FOUNDATION TRAINING PROGRAMME.................................................22 TRANSFER OF INFORMATION ..............................................................................................22 PRE-EMPLOYMENT CHECKS AND EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS .....................................22 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ......................................................................................25 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................28
Cover photo: Photographs taken by Yves Salmon Photography. With thanks to our medical student models who were all members of the UKFPOs Medical Students Board.

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Timeline and overview of the process

18 Jul 19 Aug 2011 Ensure that you are eligible to apply. If your medical school is outside the UK, or if you qualified from a UK medical school prior to 1 August 2010, you must apply to the Eligibility Office by midday on 19 August 2011. Deadline for the submission of requests for pre-allocation to a particular foundation school for special circumstances. View programmes. All available programmes in each foundation school are available to view on FPAS. Register and enrol on FPAS at www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk. You must register on FPAS and enrol in the FP 2012 recruitment round before you can complete the application form. Only eligible applicants will be able to apply. Register before the start of the application period so any issues can be resolved before you try to complete the application form. Complete the online application form. The application period closes at 12.00 noon (BST) on 21 October 2011. Late applications will not be accepted under any circumstances. Applications are scored by your first choice foundation school. The top n scoring applicants will be placed on the primary list, where n is the total number of foundation programme places available across the UK. Applicants not on the primary list will be included automatically on the reserve list. Primary list allocation. You will be notified via email when your application results are available to view online and whether you are on the primary or reserve list. You can log into your FPAS account to see your overall application score and, if you are on the primary list, you will be able to see your allocated foundation school. Applicants on the primary list need to select their programme preferences on FPAS. Deadlines and processes for matching you to your specific foundation programme will vary by foundation school. Check your allocated foundation schools website for further information. Your referees will be asked to submit a structured reference for you as part of pre-employment checks. Primary list applicants notified via email of specific programme matches. You will need to log into your FPAS account to see your foundation programme. Breakdown of scores available for all applicants. You can log into your account to see the score you received for each individual question. Reserve List batch allocations. Applicants on the reserve list will be allocated to the vacancies that have arisen since the last allocation. After each batch allocation, applicants on the reserve list will be notified as to whether or not they have been allocated to a foundation school. Pre-employment checks undertaken. You must have provisional GMC registration with a Licence to Practise before your employer will issue a contract of employment. Registering with the GMC is a different process from applying to the Foundation Programme and you must apply to them directly. The GMC advises that you apply in May 2012 to ensure you are registered before August 2012. A contract of employment is issued to you. Your employer will also confirm your salary, pay banding, location and starting rota. Foundation Programme starts.

29 Sept 2011 3 Oct 2011 3 10 Oct 2011

10 - 21 Oct 2011

31 Oct 18 Nov 2011

8 Dec 2011

By 25 Jan 2012

16 Dec 2011 24 Feb 2012 15 Feb 2012

17 Feb 2012 29 Mar 2012 31 May 2012 20 Jun 2012 4 July 2012 25 Jul 2012 Apr - Jul 2012 Jul 2012

Jul/Aug 2012 Aug 2012

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Before you apply

Are you eligible?
If you qualified or are expecting to qualify from a UK medical school between August 2010 and July 2012, you are deemed eligible to apply to the Foundation Programme commencing August 2012. If your medical school is outside the UK, or if you qualified from a UK medical school prior to 1 August 2010, you must apply to the UKFPO Eligibility Office from 18 July 2011 - 19 August 2011.

Registering & enrolling online

From 3 October, you can register online with FPAS at www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk. 1. Register online as soon as you can. 2. Click on Registering an account and follow the instructions to choose a login name and password. Ensure you keep your password confidential. 3. You will be emailed an activation link. You must click on the link, or enter the activation code supplied, to activate your account. The email will give you exact instructions. 4. Once your account is activated, you will need to enrol in the FP2012 recruitment round. The online system will guide you through this process. 5. The system will check the personal information you enter against its database of eligible applicants. If the details you enter match those provided by your medical school, deanery or the UKFPOs Eligibility Office, you will be able to access the application form from 10 October 2011. Enter your personal data: name, date of birth and email address EXACTLY as you supplied it to the medical school, foundation school, deanery or UKFPO Eligibility Office. Your data is preloaded onto FPAS and when you register and enrol, the system matches the data you enter with the data provided by your medical school or the UKFPOs Eligibility Office in order to ensure that only eligible applicants can apply. If you do not enter your personal data exactly as it was pre-loaded, the system will not be able to match the information and you may face a delay in accessing the application form. If there are any problems setting up your account, dont panic. Just contact the organisation you supplied your details to and they can help you access your account.

Pre-allocation to a particular foundation school based on special circumstances

If you need to be placed in a particular foundation school due to being the primary carer for someone with a disability, a parent or legal guardian for a child or children under the age of 18 for whom you have significant caring responsibilities, or having a medical condition for which local follow-up is a necessary requirement, then you may be able to apply to your medical school for pre-allocation to a foundation school. Details of the special circumstances process is available on the UKFPO website in Key Documents. The criteria for special circumstances are very strict and you must supply all supporting documentation that is requested. The deadline is 29 September 2011. Every effort will be made to honour those whose special circumstances applications have been approved. However, if you do not score highly enough to be on the primary list and are placed on the reserve list, you will not be pre-allocated to the particular school during the initial allocation. If there are no places available in your requested foundation school at the time you are allocated from the reserve list, you will be allocated elsewhere according to the places available, your score and your stated preferences. For this reason, it is important that you rank

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all foundation schools in order of preference even if you have been approved for pre-allocation on the grounds of special circumstances.

Contacting you
Remember to check your email regularly throughout the process. We will use your email address to send you information throughout the entire recruitment period. If you need to change your email address for any reason, update the account details section of FPAS and notify your local foundation school. Please note: We strongly advise that you DO NOT USE HOTMAIL email accounts as they regularly block emails from NHS servers. This means you would not get important messages about your application.

The FPAS application form

The application form will be divided into eight sections: Personal, Qualifications, Clinical Skills, Equal Opportunities, References, Preferences, Questions and Submit. Each section is represented online by a separate page, delineated by tabs across the top of the screen. Each section is further explained below. You will not be able to see the application form until the application period opens on 10 October 2011. The questions on the application form reflect the knowledge, skills and attributes required by the national Person Specification for the Foundation Programme 2012. Your answers must demonstrate that you meet the person specification in order for you to be allocated to a foundation programme and take up employment in August 2012.

Personal
This part of the form will only be used for employment purposes and will not be scored. If your application is successful, the details in this section will be passed to your employer. This section of the form asks you to complete the following: Your personal contact details (name, address, telephone numbers, etc). Details of any disabilities or health issues which you would want your employer to know about in order for them to make reasonable adjustments for your employment. Details of any unspent and spent convictions and investigations into fitness to practise. In this section, the GMC has provided guidance which states that you do not have to declare fixed penalty notices for traffic offences. Linked application request (if applicable).

Disabilities and personal health

We recommend that you disclose disabilities and personal health issues, such as blood borne virus infections, in the disability declaration on the application form. This information will be held in confidence and only authorised foundation school staff members and the HR department of your employing healthcare organisation will be able to access this information. If you do not wish to disclose this information on the application form, it is essential that you inform your allocated foundation school, in confidence, by no later than 6th January 2012 as your specific programme allocation may be affected. For example, you may need to avoid exposure prone procedures. Arrangements will be made for you to meet up with a foundation school staff member to discuss your training.

Linked applications
You can link your application to that of another person to ensure you will both be allocated to the same foundation school, provided you are both on the primary list. Please note that you can only link to one other person. That person can be a partner, friend, sibling, etc any two

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applicants who want to link can do so. Scoring panels will not know that your application is linked. Keep in mind that the link only allows for you to be in the same foundation school, not the same programme, employing organisation or town. Some foundation schools will try to place linked applicants within an hours commute of each other, others will not. Check the foundation schools websites for their local policies on linked applications. If you and another applicant want to link your applications, you can do so in this section of the form by choosing yes when asked if you wish to link your application. More information will then appear, along with a box for you to type in the email address of the applicant you are linking to. The process of linking works in this way: 1. You must enter the email address of the person you want to link to, ensuring it is the same one they are using for the application process. 2. Once you type their email address in and save it, you will see a notification on your personal account page (which comes up as soon as you log in). It will say either X linked to you or You are linked to X, but they have not linked to you. 3. In order for the link to be complete, the other person must enter the email address you are using for the application process on their application form. 4. Both of you must rank all of the foundation schools in the same order of preference. 5. WARNING: The preferences and score of the lower scoring applicant will be used to allocate both applicants to a foundation school. The result of your link may be that either: a. you will be allocated to a foundation school which is lower in your order of preference than would otherwise have been the case had you not linked your application; OR b. the other individual will be allocated to a foundation school lower in his/her order of preference than would otherwise have been the case. The link will be honoured if: all the information required is provided on both applicants forms; and neither you nor the other individual has been pre-allocated to a particular foundation school on the grounds of special circumstances; and you both score highly enough to be on the primary list. If either, or both, of you are on the reserve list, the link will be severed. See the Frequently Asked Questions section for more information on what happens if there are more applicants than places. IMPORTANT: You cannot un-link your application at any time once you have submitted your application form. Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the Personal section of your form.

Qualifications
Please list your qualifications, including your main medical degree, in this section. If you are NOT a final year medical student in a UK medical school, you must answer questions about your GMC registration status. You will also have to provide details of your main medical degree, post qualification experience (not applicable to current medical students) and any other educational qualifications. This part of the form will only be used for employment purposes and will not be scored. If your application is successful, the details in this section will be passed to your employer.

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GMC registration status For those who have provisional registration with a Licence to Practise, please enter your GMC registration details. (This will only be shown for those who do NOT choose I am currently a medical student in a UK medical school from the drop-down menu.) Main medical degree You must enter details of your medical degree and university. If you have not yet graduated, enter the anticipated date of qualification. Post qualification experience This section is for those applicants who have already completed medical school and may have had some experience working as a doctor prior to applying for the Foundation Programme. We would expect to see up to your last five years of experience. Other educational qualifications This section is for applicants who have completed additional educational degrees or relevant diplomas only. These may include: BA, BSc, BMedSci, PhD, etc. This section of the form is not scored and has no links to the Educational Achievements section. Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the Qualifications section of your form. If you have qualifications that can gain points in the Educational Achievements section , you must also list them in this section of the form. If you do not, you will not get any points for them.

Clinical skills
The assessment of your clinical skills is made primarily throughout your time at medical school. By passing your final exams, we expect you to be clinically prepared to proceed with foundation training and we ask you to confirm this in the section. It lists the clinical and practical skills that the GMC requires you to have by the end of medical school. You are asked to tick a box to indicate if you have attained, or expect to attain, each skill listed by August 2012. This section is not scored, so be honest in your answers. Ticking a box that says you dont have a specific skill wont prevent you from securing a post. This section of the form will be sent to employers once you have a post in order to ensure that you receive the training and support you need. So, please say if you dont have one or more of the skills listed. Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the Clinical Skills section of your form.

Equal Opportunities
This section includes the equal opportunities monitoring information required by the health service to monitor their recruitment practices. This section asks you to provide your age, gender, ethnic origin, religious beliefs and whether you consider yourself to have a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act. If you do not wish to disclose your age, you may leave that field blank. The rest of the fields are mandatory, but you may choose the option I do not wish to disclose this information. The information you provide in this section will only be accessed by authorised individuals involved in the recruitment process to ensure that this process adheres to equality and diversity legislation. Anonymised reports will be produced to analyse recruitment practices. Please note: Members of the scoring panel will not have access to the Equal Opportunities section of your form.

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References
As with any job application, you are required to provide details of referees.

IMPORTANT: References and their content are not used in the scoring process, nor are they taken into account when allocating you to a foundation school or a specific foundation programme. They are collected on behalf of the employer as part of their pre-employment checks and have no bearing on your application.

You will need to provide names and contact details of two referees. One reference must be from a practising hospital consultant, GP or associate specialist who is able to give an opinion of your clinical skills. One reference must be from your medical school. This might be a professor, senior lecturer, lecturer, reader, director of clinical studies or a person holding an honorary medical school contract as advised by your medical school. You may use referees outside of the UK as long as the referee is able to comment on your performance. If you are currently employed as a doctor, or have been employed as a doctor any time during the last six months, one of your referees must come from that employer. Make sure that you ask your referees if they are happy to provide a reference before you complete this section, and ask that they provide you with an email address which they access regularly. It is best if this is NOT a Hotmail account. Your referees will be sent an email on 16 December 2011 asking them to complete a structured online reference for you by 24 February 2012. Each reference form will take referees approximately three to five minutes to complete. The reason that your references must be submitted by 24 February 2012 is that the foundation schools send all of your data (including the full application form and references) to your employing organisation at the end of February. References received after that date will not be included in the information sent. You will be able to see your references once they are submitted by checking the my account area of the website. You can change your referee details online (even after you submit your application form) until the reference period is closed, or until the reference is submitted, whichever comes first. If either of your referees fails to submit the online reference by the deadline, then your employing healthcare organisation will work with you to ensure appropriate references are submitted. Please keep in mind that you are responsible for ensuring that two referees submit references for you before you start your job in August. A contract of employment will not be issued until these references are in place.

Helping your referees

If your referee has forgotten or lost their password, they should go to www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk and click on the Referee Login link in the middle of the screen. They will see an option to click on Forgotten your password. From here, they will need to enter their username (their email address) and a reminder of their password will be emailed to them. If they are still having trouble, they must contact the IT Technical Helpdesk for further guidance through the Contact Us link at the bottom of the referee website pages. From here, they will need to complete a Support Form which will be sent to the technical helpdesk. They will then

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be in touch with your referee to resolve the problem. There is no contact telephone number for the technical helpdesk.

The reference form

Your referees will be asked to give their opinion regarding your present knowledge and skills under the headings provided below. Referees will choose either acceptable or cause for concern in answer to each question. If they choose cause for concern, they will be asked to provide examples. If they choose acceptable, no comment is required. Clinical knowledge and skills Can show evidence of having achieved the outcomes for qualification set out in Tomorrows Doctors Language skills All applicants must have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that are adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and colleagues Personal skills Demonstrates an understanding of the importance of the patient as the central focus of care Demonstrates ability to prioritise tasks and information appropriately Demonstrates an understanding of the importance of working effectively with others Demonstrates the ability to communicate effectively with both colleagues and patients Demonstrates initiative and the ability to deal effectively with pressure and/or challenge Probity Demonstrates appropriate professional behaviour, i.e. integrity, honesty, confidentiality Other The questions below have Yes/No answers. If they answer No to the first question, and Yes to the last two questions, they must provide an explanation in the comments box. Was their attendance/timekeeping satisfactory? Are you aware of any health issues which may affect the candidates ability to undertake this post? Was the applicant subject to any disciplinary procedure, formal or otherwise, during their time with you? Recommendation The referee is invited to provide other comments. Referee details Name, position held, name of employing organisation, contact telephone number, and whether they are providing your medical school reference or a clinical reference. Please note: The UKFPO cannot accept references by FAX or email. They must be submitted through FPAS.

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Questions
IMPORTANT: This is the only section of the form that the scoring panels or national verification panels will see. This section comprises two categories:

Educational achievements Questions 1 to 5

Educational achievements will be machine-marked. You must complete all of the required information and upload evidence to support your achievements or a score of 0 will be allocated in each category. Information in this section will be verified at a national verification day by representatives from medical schools and foundation schools. The verifiers will not have access to any other part of your application form and each form will be identified by the application number only (i.e. it will be anonymous to the verifiers). Questions 1 5 will each be scored by your first choice foundation school.

List your educational achievements

Maximum points available: 10 points This category has a series of drop-down boxes for you to choose from and places for you to upload supporting documentation. Failure to fill in the boxes or upload the required supporting documentation will result in 0 points being awarded. There are two parts: PART A (5 points) Additional degrees (i.e. NOT your primary medical qualification). PART B (5 points) Other educational achievements. Dont worry if you dont have any additional educational achievements. Fewer than 50% of medical students score points on this question.

PART A Additional degrees (up to 5 points)

You must choose one of the options listed in the table below. If you have more than one additional qualification (e.g. BSc and PhD) you should choose the one that will give you the most points. If you indicate that you have an additional degree, three additional boxes will appear for you to complete. These are: Subject of Qualification, Educational Institution and Year of Qualification. . Evidence required: You must upload a copy of your degree certificate or, if you have had a pass result confirmed but have not yet received your degree certificate, a letter from the relevant University Dean or Registrar confirming you have passed and the level of degree. The letter must be on official headed paper, signed and dated by the Dean or Registrar. Failure to complete all the required fields or to provide one of the required documents will result in the degree not being recognised, and a score of 0 being given. Please note: Your score for additional degrees will be determined from the information supplied in this section of the application form, not from the Qualifications section. Therefore, if you have put information relating to additional degrees in the Qualifications section, it must be repeated in this section.

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Number of points

Degree category

0 1 1 2 3 4 5 Notes

Primary Medical Qualification only Honours degree 3rd class, unclassified or ordinary degree. Any intercalated degree that did not entail an extra year of study. Honours degree 2.2 class Honours degree 2.1 class Masters degree, Honours degree 1st class, Bachelor of Dental Science (BDS), B Vet Med Doctoral degree (PhD, DPhil, etc)

Honours degrees include any type of Bachelors honours degree, e.g. BSc, BA, BEng, LlB, BMedSci, etc. A Masters degree is where a further year of study is undertaken in addition to a basic medical qualification or degree. Some international medical schools (e.g. the USA) award an MD or similar as part of their basic medical qualifications. This qualification does not attract any additional points in this section. If you have undertaken an exchange programme of study as part of a degree course you must take the grade point average (GPA) and calculate the equivalent degree level and select the most appropriate.

For a 4 point scale, a GPA of 3.6 - 4 should be scored as equivalent to a 1st class degree, a GPA of 3 3.5 as 2.1, a GPA of 2 2.9 as 2.2 and a GPA of 1 1.9 as a 3rd class degree. For a 5 point scale, a GPA of 4.4 - 5 should be scored as equivalent to a 1st class, a GPA of 3.8 4.3 as 2.1, a GPA of 3 3.7 as 2.2 and a GPA of 2.9 or lower as a 3rd class degree.

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PART B: Other educational achievements (up to 5 points)

All the information provided in this section must relate to your activities in university education. Please do not enter any achievements in school or college, or related to musical or sports achievements. They will not gain any points. Important: Other educational achievements must be accompanied with uploaded supporting evidence. If the required document is not uploaded, no points will be awarded.
Points (max = 5)

Scoring Criteria

Up to 2

1 point for each publication with a PubMed ID and with the required uploaded evidence. 1 point for each national or international oral or poster presentation with supporting evidence, where: a) you are the speaker for an oral presentation; or b) you are the first named author for a poster presentation. 1 point for each educational first prize at a national or international level.

Up to 2

Up to 2

All parts of this section have equal weighting, with up to two points available in each category (one point may be awarded for each achievement noted). However, the maximum number of points that can be earned is 5, NOT 6 points. Publications In order to gain points for publications, the following criteria apply: The publication must be peer reviewed. The peer reviewed publication MUST have a PubMed ID. Any publications without a PubMed ID, including those In Press, do not count. Select one: None I have a peer-reviewed publication (with a PubMed ID) I have more than one peer-reviewed publication (with PubMed IDs) For the last two options, further boxes will appear which must be completed: Authors Publication title Year Journal/Book Title Volume/page PMID Please list all authors in the order they appear in the publication. Your name must be in CAPITALS State the title as it has been published Year of publication State the full title of the journal or book State both the volume and page numbers Please insert the PubMed ID (PMID). If you do not have a PMID, the publication will not gain any points.

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Required evidence You must upload the front page of the article clearly showing the article title and authors names. There is space on the application form for two publications only. If you have more than two, you must decide which two publications you wish to use.

Presentations In order to be awarded points, the following criteria apply: Oral or poster presentations must be given at a national or international conference hosted by a recognised medical specialty body. Conferences organised by students or student organisations will not count. National means any of the following: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or any other country. The poster or oral presentation must describe your academic work. You must be the first named author on a poster presentation, but you do not need to have been present at the event where the poster was displayed. You must be the sole speaker for an oral presentation. Presentations must have taken place by the close of the application period (21 October 2011).

Select one: None I have a national presentation I have more than one national presentation If you indicate that you have a presentation(s) you will have to complete the following information: Date of conference Meeting Organiser Presentation Title Authors Date including year of conference Title and location of conference Name of organisation responsible for conference Title of presentation Please list all authors in the order they appear in the presentation. Your name must be in CAPITALS Required evidence You must upload the acceptance letter/email from the conference host or a conference programme clearly showing you are delivering a presentation or displaying a poster. Presentations you give during the course of your degree or extra curricular activities do not count. Presentations at BMA or student-led conferences also do not count. There is space on the application form for two presentations only. If you have more than two, you must decide which ones you wish to include. Prizes In order to be awarded points, the following criteria apply: Prizes must be a national or international educational prize awarded by an organisation that is not student-led and must be a FIRST PRIZE. Second or third prizes, or honourable mentions, do not qualify for points in this section. A prize is awarded for achievement, rather than being an activity that is to be carried out. The following are not considered prizes: Bursaries Elective awards Grants

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Scholarships Funding for research projects, or any other funding granted University prizes

On the application form, you must select one of the following: None I have a nationally recognised educational prize I have more than one nationally recognised educational prize

If you indicated that you have won a prize(s), you will have to complete the following information: Name of prize Year Awarding Body Details of prize Required evidence The full formal title of the prize The year the prize was awarded The name of the organisation/institution awarding the prize Details of what the prize was for and who could apply You must upload a signed prize certificate or an official letter/email from the awarding body. A letter/email must confirm the full formal title of the prize, the year the prize was awarded and that you won first prize.

Details of two prizes only can be submitted. If you have been awarded more than two prizes, you will need to decide which ones to list. IMPORTANT: If you do not upload the required supporting evidence in this section you will not receive a point. If you need evidence from an awarding body or your Dean organise this now, do not leave this until the application period opens. Below is an example of the page for entering details of Other educational achievements and uploading supporting evidence. The Browse function is used to search for the document you wish to upload from your pc. Please note: Each document must not be bigger than 1MB and be either a PDF document (*.pdf) or a JPG image (*.jpg).

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Questions 1 5
Maximum points available: 10 points per question Limit: 200 words per question Each question relates to particular criteria within the national Foundation Programme Person Specification. You must demonstrate through your answers that you meet the Person Specification in order to be allocated to a foundation school. Applicants who score 0 on any question will have their answers collated and checked to see whether the information they have provided as a whole meets the person specification. If the foundation school scoring the application does not think that it meets the person specification, they will send the application to a national review panel, which will make the final decision. You will be able to see Questions 1 - 5, along with the entire application form between 10 21 October 2011. The questions will not be released in advance of the application period. Medical students from previous recruitment rounds have found it helpful to draft the answers offline first, save them, and then paste them into the application form once they were happy with them. Please note that you can save, edit and re-save your form as many times as you like until you hit the Submit button in the Submit section. But remember, you must SAVE any changes before you exit a section of the application form or else your work will be lost.

Tips for writing good answers

TIP 1

Each question has several parts. Break down the question into its component parts and answer each part. Then join your answer back together into a coherent single response. You will not get full points if you do not answer the entire question. Make sure you read the question carefully - answers need to be relevant, well constructed and appropriate. Provide a clear description of your experiences and ensure you are concise. You will have 200 words in which to answer each question. Communication skills and attention to detail are important, so answers must be in full sentences (i.e. no bullet points). Poor spelling and grammar may impair the quality of your answer and can lead to a lower score. Do not leave any answers blank. The system will not allow you to submit the form if there is nothing in the answer box. Do not refer to answers you gave to other questions or in other sections of the form. Scorers will only see one particular question and answer and so will not know what you are referring to if, for example, you say using the same experience set out in Question 3. . .

TIP 2

TIP 3

TIP 4

TIP 5

TIP 6

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Preferences
Before submitting your application, you must rank ALL the foundation schools in order of preference in this section. You must do this even if you have been pre-allocated to a particular foundation school on the grounds of special circumstances. The table below shows the competition ratios in each foundation school for the last four years. You can see that some foundation schools are always popular, but that different schools are over- or under-subscribed in different years. The ratio is calculated by dividing the number of applicants by the number of vacancies available. Any percentage over 100% shows over-subscription, i.e. the foundation school was selected as the first choice by more applicants than there were places available. Please note that ratios from previous years are not an indication of the popularity of schools for this year. Competition will vary, depending on which schools other applicants choose to list as their first preference. Do not make your decisions based on these figures alone. It is not possible to predict what foundation school your fellow medical students are going to choose as their first preference. You do need to be realistic about your choices, though. If your academic score is in a lower quartile and you dont feel youve been able to answer the application questions particularly well, it is unlikely that you will be allocated to a very competitive school. You are allocated to a foundation school in score order.

Competition Ratios for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011

Foundation School Birmingham, Shropshire and Staffordshire Black Country Coventry and Warwick East Anglian Hereford and Worcester Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Mersey North Central Thames North East Thames North West Thames North Western North Yorkshire and East Coast Northern Northern Ireland Oxford Peninsula Scotland Severn South Thames South Yorkshire Trent Wales Wessex West Yorkshire 2008 81% 97% 94% 75% 71% 98% 80% 132% 108% 215% 94% 47% 77% 105% 107% 94% 105% 109% 117% 110% 84% 91% 90% 96% 2009 75% 85% 99% 73% 87% 93% 79% 139% 139% 130% 80% 47% 77% 113% 109% 84% 91% 140% 118% 130% 68% 89% 83% 100% 2010* N/A N/A 101% 85% N/A 101% 89% 144% 96% 190% 94% N/A 74% 100% 116% 81% 92% 100% 127% N/A 76% 91% 81% N/A 2011* 40% N/A 105% 113% N/A 95% 92% 152% 157% 95% 111% 87% 89% 116% 132% 87% 98% 135% 132% N/A 83% 97% 109% N/A

*In 2010 and 2011, you will see that a number of schools have N/A instead of a percentage. That is because of changes in the way the foundation schools were configured for that recruitment round.

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Details of FP 2011 recruitment round

Foundation School Vacancies Applicants choosing FS as 1st preference Competition ratio

Coventry and Warwickshire FS East Anglian FS Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland FS Mersey FS North Central Thames FS North East Thames FS North West Thames FS North Western FS Northern FS Northern Ireland FS Oxford FS Peninsula FS Scotland FS Severn FS South Thames FS Staffordshire FS Trent FS Wales FS Wessex FS West Midlands, North, Central and South FS Yorkshire and the Humber FS

86 289 133 295 307 319 269 515 374 243 225 194 744 263 805 102 289 319 291 414 597

90 327 126 272 468 501 255 570 331 283 298 169 730 356 1,063 41 241 309 317 421 518

105% 113% 95% 92% 152% 157% 95% 111% 89% 116% 132% 87% 98% 135% 132% 40% 83% 97% 109% 102% 87%

Applicants will be allocated to foundation schools in score order of their total score (academic quartile score plus score for application questions), starting with the highest scoring applicant. Each applicant will be allocated to their highest preference school with available places. If their first choice is not available, the system will look at their second choice, and so on down their list of preferences until it finds their highest preference which still has a space available. Where applicants have the same score, the system will randomly select the order for allocation of applicants with that score.

Here's how it works: Lucys top five foundation school preferences were: Wales, Severn, Peninsula, Wessex and Oxford. She scored a total of 70 for her application (academic quartile score plus score for application questions). This placed her 400th in the score list, as 399 other applicants had higher scores than her. When it was Lucys turn to be allocated, all the vacancies in Wales, Severn and Peninsula foundation schools had been filled with higher scoring applicants. A vacancy was still available in Wessex and so Lucy was allocated to Wessex as this was her highest preference which still had an available place. If Lucys score had been higher she would have been more likely to have been allocated to a school which was higher on her list of preferences.

It is not advisable to assume what score will assure you a place in any particular foundation school. For example, you cannot predict that for FP2012, you must have a score of 83 to be allocated to NW Thames, but a score of 65 will get you into Wales. It depends entirely on the

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number of vacancies in each school and the order of preference of those applicants who score more highly than you.

Submit
This section includes not only the submit button, but several declarations as well.

Probity
You will be asked to tick a box to declare that you have completed the application answers by yourself, without significant help or input from other sources. This declaration applies only to formulating your answers, rather than the physical act of inputting them into the computer. If you have a disability, for example, and someone else does the typing on your behalf, this does not constitute significant help or input. It is important that your work is your own. Unfair practice, including collusion and plagiarism, will not be tolerated. The Random House Dictionary definition of plagiarism is close imitation of the language and thoughts of another and presenting it as your own. FPAS has antiplagiarism software which can identify applications where some form of standard answer has been used. This is regarded as a serious probity issue and if plagiarism, collusion or unfair practice is found, applicants will be withdrawn from the system, referred back to their medical school and to the GMC. Further guidance about what constitutes unfair practice is in Appendix A.

Data Protection
Your details will be kept confidential and on a secure server. The information contained within your application form will be provided to authorised staff for purposes of recruitment, reporting and providing you with access to the resources you will need when you begin foundation training. Your data may be used in an anonymised form for statistical analysis of the recruitment process. IMPORTANT: Once your application form has been submitted, it cannot be changed. Make sure you double check everything and ensure it is saved before you submit. We advise you to print out a copy of your completed application.

You should try to submit your application a few days before the deadline to avoid any last minute problems with your internet connection or your local PC. Technical assistance is available via e-mail only from Monday to Friday, 8.30 am to 5.00 pm (BST). This is of particular relevance if you are submitting your application from overseas where there may be a significant difference between British Summer Time (BST) and local time. Once your application is accepted, you will receive an email confirmation so you know it has gone through.

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DOs and DONTs for completing your form

DO
Compose your answers offline first, and save them. Use your word processing programmes spellcheck and word counter before transferring your answer to your application form. If you do not save your work or go to another tab when you are in FPAS, the system thinks you are inactive and will time you out after 20 minutes. This means you would lose your work. For this reason it is a good idea to formulate your answers offline and paste them across when you are happy with them. NOTE: The word counter you use may be different than that used by the application system. FPAS will not always recognise smart quotes, i.e. apostrophes, transferred from Microsoft Word so ensure you check your work before submitting. Make sure you paste your answers into the correct box on the application form. Panels will just be scoring one question only, so if your answer is not relevant because you pasted it into the wrong box, you will receive a score of 0 for that answer.

DONT
Dont expect to complete the whole application form in one sitting. Consider booking at least three sessions in your diary to work on it. It will undoubtedly take longer than you think.

Dont be tempted to use someone elses material or an example you heard in a lecture. The system uses plagiarism software which will pick up any sort of standard or repeated answer. If evidence of plagiarism is found, the applicant will be withdrawn from the system and may be reported to the GMC. Dont ask friends/colleagues to help you write or re-write your answers for you. You must submit your own work. If there is evidence of collusion or unfair practice, your application will be withdrawn from the system. Dont press submit until you have checked your application thoroughly. Ensure that all the information is in the right place, there is a different answer to every question and your preferences are in the right order. Dont leave it to the last minute to submit your application form. Late applications will not be accepted under any circumstances. You may experience problems with your local PC or your internet connection, so ensure you submit your application in good time to avoid missing the deadline.

Make sure you press save on each section, or you will lose your answers when you go to the next section. After you save a section, you can go back to it, edit it and re-save as many times as you like before you submit the form. Print out a hard copy of your completed application form and keep this copy for your records. You may need a copy if your foundation school or employer wishes to interview you, or if they ask you to verify your answers. Remember not to refer to other answers you have given. Scoring panels will only see the answer to one question, not your whole form. Make sure that all information relevant to a particular answer is included.

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Scoring
Number of points available
Applications will have a maximum score of 100 points and this will consist of two components: 1. Academic Ranking - 40 points maximum Your academic ranking is calculated by your medical school, which has divided your year group into four quartiles based on academic performance. If you are in the first quartile (the top 25% of your year), you will receive a score of 40; if you are in the second quartile your score will be 38; the third quartile 36 and the fourth quartile 34. If you are graduating from a UK medical school, these scores will be supplied to us by your medical school and uploaded into the system. If you are graduating from a non-UK medical school, you must apply through the Eligibility Office. Your academic score will be derived from the academic ranking on your medical school deans statement. The Eligibility Office will upload your academic score. 2. Application form - 60 points maximum There are five questions each has a maximum score of 10 points and a word limit of 200. In addition, educational achievements attract a maximum of 10 points.

How educational achievements are scored

Educational achievements will be machine-marked. The system will allocate a suggested score based on the information provided in the relevant boxes. There will then be a national verification day for educational achievements. A verification panel consisting of two people, one from a medical school and one from a foundation school, will review the documentation uploaded by an applicant and confirm the machine-marked score. If the uploaded documentation does not support the information provided, the panel will reduce the score allocated by the system. Panel members will see the information provided, the uploaded documentation and an applicant reference only. The applicant will be anonymous. If the documentation you have uploaded is clearly not relevant, your first choice foundation school will be informed and they may ask you to verify your full application. See the section on verifying your answers below.

How Questions 1-5 are scored

Each of your answers is scored by a panel of two people, at least one of whom is a clinician, using a detailed set of national scorers guidelines. All scorers must have successfully undertaken Equality and Diversity training within the last three years. Questions are scored horizontally. This means that each panel will score a particular question (i.e. all Question 2s or all Question 3s) rather than scoring entire applications. The result is that each application is scored by at least 10 individuals. Prior to scoring, all members of scoring panels will have been trained to a national standard using a single set of nationally agreed scoring criteria. This is to ensure that scorers are marking as consistently as possible. Each scoring panel will only be provided with the answer to one of your questions and your applicant number, i.e. the applicant will be anonymous.

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Each panel member will first score an answer independently, and then the two panel members will discuss their scores with each other to agree a final score for the answer. If they cannot agree, the answer is passed to another panel to re-score. A chief assessor will be nominated for each scoring event and will be the final arbiter of any scoring disputes. Please note that the scores you receive for each answer may vary. Do not assume that because you have scored highly in one answer that you will necessarily score highly in another answer. Each answer is scored on its own merit and it would not be unusual to see a range of scores across an application e.g. 1, 10, 8, 2, 8, 6. The questions are very different and the scores may vary accordingly. IMPORTANT: For FP2012 we expect there will be more fully eligible applicants than there are vacancies based on trends over the last few years. The final number of applications will not be known until the close of the application period. If, at that time, there are more fully eligible applicants than vacancies, applications from individuals who are unable to provide evidence of their right to work in the UK by 7 October 2011 will be not be scored. If you are in this category, you will receive an e-mail at the close of the application period to confirm that your application will not be considered.

Verifying your answers to Questions 1-5

You may be asked to verify the answers provided on the application form for Questions 1 to 5 by supplying supporting evidence. For example, if one of your answers mentions a situation which occurred during your elective in Canada, you may need to supply evidence that you were on elective in Canada and testimony from a team member verifying that the situation occurred. You will not be asked to breach patient confidentiality. If asked to verify a situation you were in, you may be asked where and when it took place, and the name of your consultant. You may need to ask someone to testify the situation happened. If you are unable to verify your answers by post to the satisfaction of the Foundation School Director, s/he will probably ask you to come in for an interview to discuss the situation. If there continues to be doubt about the veracity of an answer, the Foundation School Director will withdraw you from the application process and refer you back to your medical school. Please note that if one of your questions is highlighted for verification this does not mean that you will receive a lower score. Scorers have been trained to assume the scenario you provide is true and will score you accordingly.

Allocation to a foundation school

Primary list allocation The top n scoring applicants will automatically be placed on the primary list, where n is the total number of vacancies available across the UK. If there are a number of applicants with the same score at the bottom cut-off point, they will be randomly allocated with some being placed on the primary list and others on the reserve list. If you are on the primary list, you are allocated to a foundation school in score order. Your overall application score (the combined score of your academic ranking and the points you score on the application form) and your foundation school allocation will be available to view on your FPAS personal account on 8 December 2011. You will receive an email to let you know when the information is available.

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Reserve list batch allocations Applicants on the reserve list will be allocated in batches on predetermined dates. The number allocated on each date will depend on the number of vacancies that have arisen since the last allocation. You will be notified if you are on the reserve list by email on 8 December 2011. The e-mail will tell you how many applicants are on the reserve list and will illustrate the range of scores. You will also be reminded of the dates for the reserve list batch allocations. After each reserve list batch allocation, applicants will be contacted to confirm whether or not they have been allocated to a foundation school. Those who have not been allocated will be given updated information regarding the number of applicants remaining on the reserve list and the range of scores.

Matching to a foundation training programme

Once you have been allocated to a foundation school, the next step is for you to be matched to a specific programme within the foundation school. As this part of the process is managed locally by the foundation school, it is very important to check the website of your allocated foundation school to see what process they use for matching you to a particular programme. Some foundation schools conduct interviews as part of the matching to programme process. Check the relevant foundation school website for their local process.

Transfer of Information
Tomorrows Doctors, Paragraph 121, places an obligation on medical schools to ensure you meet the outcomes required and to transfer information to those who may need it during your foundation training: . . .medical schools should also make arrangements so that graduates areas of relative weakness are fed into their Foundation Programme portfolios so they can be reviewed by the educational supervisor. This information should draw on assessments in relation to the outcomes and including graduating transcripts. In applying for the Foundation Programme, applicants accept that such a transfer of information will take place. Your medical school will give you more details about the Transfer Of Information (TOI) process. The national process and forms can be found on the UKFPO website under Medical Students / Key Documents.

Pre-employment checks and employment contracts

Pre-employment checks include Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, occupational health checks and may, in some cases, include an interview. You must ensure that both of your references are submitted, as your employer cannot offer you a contract of employment without them. From 27 October 2009, under the terms of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006), strengthened measures have been introduced to help prevent unsuitable people from undertaking paid or volunteer work with children and vulnerable adults. The Act extends the scope of existing requirements to carry out checks against the barred lists on all applicants intending to work or volunteer within regulated activity with vulnerable groups by way of an

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enhanced CRB check. The websites of the relevant employers organisation in each country have published details about current requirements for CRB checking. Your employment contract Your formal offer of employment will be made by your employing healthcare organisation (hospital, trust or board). They will offer you a contract only after they have completed preemployment checks and you qualify from medical school. These pre-employment checks include Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, references and occupational health checks Your employing organisation is responsible for all your contractual issues such as pay, banding, rotas and accommodation, and they will also confirm your start date and induction arrangements. Starting your job Some foundation schools may require you to undertake a period of shadowing/induction prior to the start of the Foundation Programme to shadow the F1 doctor you will be taking over from. This period often includes an induction into the NHS and your particular place of work. You are advised to check the foundation school website for details of this. In some places, it will be mandatory and will affect the start date of your GMC registration. IMPORTANT: If anything should happen which would prevent you taking up your post in August (such as illness or finals failure), it is vital that you let your allocated foundation school know as soon as possible.

Improving Selection to the Foundation Programme: Parallel Recruitment Exercise

New arrangements for selecting trainee doctors into the Foundation Programme are being piloted in parallel with this recruitment round, with a view to introducing new selection methods for FP 2013 recruitment. Your medical school will have a Parallel Recruitment Exercise (PRE) team consisting of a lead and an administrator who will administer the PRE at your school. They will send you more information about the PRE before the recruitment round begins. Situational Judgement Test One of the new selection methods to be piloted is the Situational Judgement Test (SJT). The SJT is a one-hour invigilated test consisting of 30 questions. This test is designed to see how you will react in the workplace given different scenarios you are likely to encounter as a foundation doctor. The aim is for the SJT to replace white-space application questions next year. You will be expected to sit an SJT in addition to completing the online application form. Your medical school will write to you in September to let you know the time, date and venue for your SJT. You will take the SJT on one of the following dates: 11 November (Birmingham and Imperial only) 28 November 9 December 9 January

Applicants from medical schools outside the UK will also have the opportunity to undertake the SJT at a venue in London. More information will be sent to these applicants as it becomes available.

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Please note that this is a dry run for next years recruitment round and the results will not affect your Foundation Programme allocation in any way. Your score will be kept confidential and only used to evaluate the effectiveness of the SJT questions. You will receive feedback on your performance in April 2012. SJTs are currently used in selection for GP training and are being piloted for use in other specialties. It is likely that all doctors will have to take an SJT at some point in their career if they are planning to work in the UK. Therefore, participating in the PRE will provide you with an excellent opportunity to practice these question styles before encountering them for real during specialty training selection. Educational Performance Measure The other selection method to be piloted this year is the Educational Performance Measure (EPM). The aim is for the EPM to replace the academic quartile ranking, and incorporate the educational achievements question which is currently part of the online application form. The EPM will be worth up to 50 points and will consist of three parts: 1. Medical school performance, providing a decile score rather than a quartile score. Applicants will score between 34 43 points. 2. Additional degrees (Bachelors, Masters and Doctorates) maximum of 5 points. 3. Publications, presentations and prizes maximum of 2 points. The three scores will be added together to form the EPM score. This year, the EPM will be piloted by medical school administrators who will provide EPM decile scores for each student to the ISFP project team for analysis, along with the academic quartile. This information will not be published, but will be used confidentially for analysis. It will not form any part of your FPAS score for this recruitment round. The PRE is being undertaken as part of the Improving Selection into the Foundation Programme project commissioned by the Department of Health (England) and coordinated by the Medical Schools Council. More information about the project, including example SJT questions and answers, can be found at www.isfp.org.uk.

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Frequently asked questions

I notice that the allocation algorithm is different this year. Why is that and how will it affect my allocation to a foundation school? The allocation algorithm is reviewed every year by the Recruitment Rules Group which includes representatives from key stakeholders such as the BMA Medical Students Committee, foundation schools, GMC, Medical Schools Council and NHS Employers. The group considered the results from a modelling exercise and determined that it was appropriate to revise the algorithm for FP 2012. The previous algorithm considered foundation school preferences before actual application score, This was designed to maximise the number of applicants allocated to their first choice foundation school. This works extremely well when there are more vacancies than applicants. Even those applicants who are not allocated to their first choice school are likely to be allocated to a relatively high choice preference, with a small number of exceptions. However, feedback received following the FP 2011 recruitment round showed that this was less effective when there are more applicants than vacancies, In this situation, because all vacancies will be filled, there is a much higher chance of those on the primary list who are not allocated to their first choice foundation school being allocated to a school much lower in their order of preferences. It was decided that an algorithm which considers application score first is more relevant for FP 2012 and beyond when it is expected that there will be more applicants than places available. Applicants will be allocated in score order of their total score (academic quartile score plus score for application questions), starting with the highest scoring applicant. Work undertaken on trialling this system indicates that although the percentage of applicants being allocated to their first choice may reduce, the percentage being allocated to one of their top five choices is likely to increase significantly, with far less applicants being allocated to a school much lower in their order of preferences. The allocation algorithm will continue to be reviewed each year to ensure the most appropriate method of allocating applicants is used. What will happen if Im on the reserve list? Applicants who are not on the primary list will be notified on 08 December 2011. The email will also confirm the dates on which reserve list batch allocations will take place. Reserve list batch allocations will allocate the highest scoring applicants on the reserve list to the vacancies that have arisen since the last allocation. Usually these vacancies arise as a consequence of students failing their final examinations or withdrawing from the programme. Reserve list batch allocations will take place on pre-determined dates and the highest scoring applicants on the reserve list will be allocated to their highest preference foundation school within each batch. You may be allocated to your first choice foundation school if vacancies arise there. However, you will be matched to whichever programmes are left in that particular foundation school. You will not have the opportunity to express your programme preferences. We anticipate that the vast majority of those on the reserve list will get a foundation programme, but you may not know where until July 2012 (at the latest). Further information, guidance and support will be provided to applicants on the reserve list once application scores are known.

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What happens if not enough vacancies arise for all applicants on the reserve list? The number of vacancies that arise after the primary list allocation will depend on the number of applicants who fail their final exams, fail PLAB or withdraw their application for other reasons. Any applicants who have not been allocated after the final reserve list batch allocation will be referred back to their medical school. Medical school staff will explore local opportunities with colleagues involved in postgraduate medical education for graduates to complete a years training at F1 level.

What happens if there are not enough applicants for all the vacancies? If there are significantly fewer eligible applicants than vacancies, some posts will be suspended in each foundation school in England using a pre-determined percentage. Posts will not be suspended in Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

If my application for pre-allocation to a particular foundation school for special circumstances is accepted, will I be guaranteed a place in that school? If you score highly enough to be on the primary list, you will be pre-allocated to your preferred foundation school if your special circumstances application is accepted. However, if you are on the reserve list a place in your preferred foundation school is not guaranteed. If there are places available at the time you are allocated you will be allocated to your preferred foundation school, but if there are no vacancies available in that particular foundation school at that time you will be allocated elsewhere.

Should I ask an online service to help me with my application? We know there are websites which offer to write or re-write your answers for you. They use many of the same phrases, so the plagiarism software we use will pick it up. Where evidence of plagiarism is found, the applicant will be withdrawn from the system and may be reported to the GMC. When we asked medical students to find out how good these website services are, the feedback we received was dont waste your money. These services have no knowledge of the scoring criteria that is used to score applications.

How much help can my tutor/supervisor give me on answering the questions? It is always a good idea to ask someone to proofread your answers before you submit them. However, they cannot write the answers for you. The answers must be your own work and come from your own experiences.

What happens if I dont agree with my score and want to appeal? You cannot appeal against your score. The scores you receive for each question may vary and you may have a range of scores across your application form from 0 10. This is not unusual. Do not assume that because you have scored highly in one answer that you will necessarily score highly in another answer. The decisions made about your score by the scoring panels are final. You can only appeal if you think that the process discriminated against you in some way. There is an opportunity to do this at the conclusion of the process, after applicants are matched to programmes. Details will be published on the UKFPO website. Appeals are not accepted until the recruitment process has completed as you cannot appeal in the middle of a process.

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Does the offer of a training programme guarantee me a job? No it does not. The Foundation Programme recruitment process will match you to a foundation training programme, but the employing organisation makes the offer of employment. They will issue a contract only after they have successfully completed pre-employment checks, which at some schools will include an interview.

What happens if I dont want the job? Successful applicants will be allocated to one foundation school only, then to one programme only. Declining your foundation school or programme allocation will mean that you are withdrawing from the process. There is no system for swaps between schools. If you withdraw from your programme, it is unlikely that there will be any two year Foundation Programme places advertised that you can apply for. Vacancies that arise at the end of the national recruitment process are normally only open to doctors with full GMC registration. However we recommend that you clarify this with the employing organisation. These posts are likely to only be for one year and will not be recognised for training. What happens if I do not pass my final exams and do not graduate as expected? You will need to apply through the application system again next year, once you have received your medical qualification. The place allocated to you this year will not be held for you. You must re-apply in open competition.

Where do I go for more information? For more information, download the How to apply presentation available from the UKFPO website at www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk

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APPENDIX A
MSC/UKFPO GUIDANCE
ON

COMPLETING FP2012 APPLICATION FORMS Guidance for Foundation Programme Applicants

Introduction Medical Schools Council and the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) are keen to ensure that all medical students in the UK have equal access to guidance when completing their Foundation Programme applications. We are aware that in the past, the variation in the level and quality of advice has been significant. Therefore, the Medical Schools Council and the UKFPO have developed this guidance document. The aim is to ensure that all medical school staff and students are aware of the boundaries of the appropriate level of guidance and support for applicants whilst completing their application. Over the next couple of years, we will be moving towards a system where students applying for the Foundation Programme will sit an assessment under exam conditions where no outside help will be permitted. The current application questions (the white-space questions) should be viewed as a precursor to this assessment. For the recruitment round for Foundation Programme commencing August 2012, please also note that the questions will only be available during the actual application period. Guidelines for medical school staff on help and advice Medical school staff, clinical tutors and former scorers have been told that they cannot give you direct coaching and advice. Below is an extract from the advice they must adhere to:

It is essential that answers to the white space questions are the applicants own work. Therefore, whilst medical school and associated staff may meet with students to provide general advice and guidance about completion of white space questions, they will provide neither specific advice nor direct individual coaching about the content of written answers. Students will continue to sign a declaration confirming that the application is entirely his/her own work.
Anyone on a scoring panel must sign a confidentiality agreement to say that they will not discuss the scoring criteria outside the room. Therefore, if you ask someone to read your answers and comment on them, those familiar with the scoring criteria will only be able to do so in the most general terms. If the person reading your answers gives detailed feedback or declares that answers should get good points, they do not know the scoring criteria and therefore you should think carefully before following their advice. Academic Integrity and Unfair Practice Academic integrity is a very important concept. It is all about honesty and trust and requires you to maintain high moral and ethical standards. Put simply, all work you do must be all your own and you will have to sign a declaration to this effect before you submit your application. If a student has had significant help in writing or amending their answers, has worked with another person on their answers, or has downloaded their answers from the internet, then that is considered cheating. If the UKFPO receives evidence of this behaviour, the student/s in question will be removed from the national application process whilst the claims are investigated. Plagiarism This occurs when work that is submitted for assessment contains the words or ideas of others without the original source being properly attributed or acknowledged. It includes attempts to pass off work that has been produced by fellow students as your own, or words or ideas that are found in textbooks, in articles, on the Web, or in any other format. It includes both work that is directly copied from another source and work that has been slightly changed or paraphrased to make it look like it is different from the original.

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Collusion This takes place when work that has been done with others is submitted and passed off as solely the work of one person. When working with others you must ensure that you are clear about what can be done in collaboration with others, and what must be solely your own efforts. Whilst it is a good idea to share and discuss ideas with your peers, you must make sure that work submitted for assessment meets the specified requirements. Unfair Practice This is defined as any act whereby a person might obtain for him/herself or for another, an unpermitted advantage leading to a higher mark or grade than his/her abilities would otherwise secure. This includes the impersonation of another student or allowing oneself to be impersonated whilst completing the online application form. To avoid any suspicion of collusion and/or plagiarism do not copy anyone elses answers. If a fellow student copies your work then you are both open to an accusation of unfair practice and will both be removed from the process pending investigation. An experienced marker can easily detect copied work it is usually the similarity of mistakes that betrays it. So be warned! Unfair practice, or cheating as it is commonly known, is not tolerated by the UKFPO.

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