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Specialised Foundation Programme Allocation Process

Overview

YHFS is one Specialised Unit of Application (SUoA) that comprises three Locality Schemes or Groups (East Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. In total we have 81 Specialised Foundation Programmes (SFP), with a four-month placement in the FY2 year, in either Research or Medical Education.

With expansion in Foundation training the number of SFP posts have increased from 66 posts to 81 posts for August 2023.

There will be an additional 12 Medical Education placements in South Yorkshire. 6 based in Barnsley and 6 based in Doncaster. The academic placement will be hosted by Sheffield University. We are reviewing these for 2024 and we may change some of these posts to Research posts instead of Medical Education. 

There are also 3 Medical Education posts that will cross both East Yorkshire and South Yorkshire with the FY1 year being based at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, East Yorkshire and the FY2 year being based at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, South Yorkshire. The academic placement will be hosted by Sheffield University.

Applications

The UKFPO has published national information and guidance relating to SFP recruitment commencing in August 2024. The most useful document for you at the time is the FP/SFP Applicants Handbook which can be found on the UKFPO website.

Applications are processed via the national recruitment system, Oriel. If eligible, your Medical School will “nominate” you for entry to the application process. Once confirmed, you will receive an email with a link to the Oriel system. You can then register and complete your application for Foundation, Foundation Priority Programmes, Psychiatry Foundation Fellowships and Specialised Foundation Programmes. Applicants are advised to start their applications early to allow sufficient time to complete necessary sections of the application form and to gather evidence in support of their application.

The national time frames for this are listed in the timeline at the bottom of this page and are also available via the UKFPO website / in the FP/SFP Applicants Handbook.

There is a national Person Specification for the Specialised Foundation Programme, which can be found on the UKFPO website.

Please click on the links below for further details on the SFP programmes across YHFS:

  • 24 in East Yorkshire (21 Research posts and 3 Medical Education posts)
  • 33 in South Yorkshire (15 Research posts and 18 Medical Education posts)
  • 21 in West Yorkshire (18 Research posts and 3 Medical Education posts)
  • For August 2023 there are also 3 Medical Education posts that will cross both East Yorkshire and South Yorkshire with the FY1 year being based at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby and the FY2 year being based at Doncaster Royal Infirmary. The academic placement will be hosted by Sheffield University.

Key Dates

  • Register and enrol online: 12th September 2023 (09:00 BST) – 20th September 2023 
  • Complete the online application form: 20th September (09:00 BST) – 4th October 2023 (12:00 midday BST) 
  • YHFS applicants will be sent the self-assessment tool and white space questions on the 4th October 2023
  • Deadline to rank / amend SFP preferences on Oriel 13th October 2023
  • Deadline to complete the self-assessment tool and return evidence 25th October 2023 12 noon
  • FSD / Deputies and Academic Leads will review the forms submitted 1st to 15th November 2023
  • Feedback sent to applicants 16th November 2023
  • Scores appeals to be sent by 20th November 2023
  • Appeals outcomes confirmed by 24th November 2023
  • SFP national offers: 10 - 12th January 2024  (48 hours to accept or decline for all offer rounds)
  • Round 2 offers: 17 – 19th January 2024 
  • Round 3 offers: 24 – 26th January 2024 
  • Round 4 offers: 31 – 2nd February 2024
  • Clearing round: 5 – 9th February 2024 
  • Notification to Employer / Trust: from 10th February 2023

Self Assessment tool and White Space Questions

YHFS will not be interviewing SFP candidates this year. We will be using a self-assessment tool. We also wont be using white space questions this year.

Self assessment guidance, example scoresheets, FAQs and example forms will be added to the bottom of this page. Please read the guidance carefully! Scoresheets will be available on forms via this link:

​The forms will not open until after the application window is closed. We will contact all candidates that have applied for SFP in YHFS on the 4th October 2023.

Further information and guidance has been updated and uploaded to the bottom of this page from Thursday 21st September 2023. The link for the self-assessment tool and evidence submission portal will open on the 4th of October and close on the 25th of October 2023.

​LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. If you do not complete the form by the deadline, your application will not be considered. 

Please DO NOT complete the white space questions on the SFP section of the application form for YHFS. 

If you are applying to another Foundation School, please check their requirements for SFP recruitment as not all schools use the same processes. They may want you to complete some or all of the white space questions on the application form or provide evidence of additional educational achievements. Please check the requirements for the schools you are applying to. If the other school you are applying to also does not require you to complete the white space questions you must enter N/A in this section of the application.

Please note: Additional Educational Achievements (AEA) are no longer taken into account as part of your Foundation Programme application but we are using them as part of the Self-Assessment tool

As part of the self-assessment tool you are required to provide any AEA or “soft skills” you have to date. These will be scored and used used to give you an individual rank to be used on Oriel. This will be verified by the FSD / Deputies and Academic leads. If you cannot provide evidence to support your self assessment, your application will be withdrawn.

 

Just to note, we do not offer any specific advice regarding the self-assessment form and all candidates are expected to select an appropriate response within the context of the questions being asked and guidance provided. You will then have the opportunity to upload your evidence to justify your response.   

This approach to responding to self-assessment queries is to ensure that candidates are provided with consistent advice during the application period. 

We will only be able to review the top scoring 250 applications. In previous years, we only used to interview approximately 160 trainees.

Until we receive our applications, we cannot advise if your application will be reviewed. Once the application window closes, we will advise you whether your application will be reviewed or not. 

Scoring of SFP applications

  • Self-assessment tool: Maximum points available 100

If we end up with a tie break situation, where 1 or more candidates have the same score, we will use the date and time of submission of the self assessment. The earlier submission will receive a higher rank.

Programme Preferences

Students applying to start a two-year Specialised Foundation Programme in August 2023 will rank all 81 programmes on application.  Successful applicants will be allocated to either a research project or medical education post. Projects for both Medical Education and Research posts are decided subject to completion of the Application Form for an F2 Academic Foundation Placement (YHAF2). This form does not need to be completed for your SFP application; it will be completed during the F1 year and submitted towards the end of your 2nd placement in FY1.

Please rank all of the 81 programmes in order of preference by using the drag and drop function. We ask you to rank all of the posts in order to give you more of an opportunity to be offered a place you prefer.

You have until the 13th of October 2023 to rank the SFP programmes on Oriel

Please rank all programmes under the "Preference" column.

Any programmes you do not wish to be considered for should remain in the "Not Wanted" column. Please note the implications of this will be that you will not be offered a place on any programmes listed under the "Not Wanted" column.

If you choose to only rank 1 group of posts e.g., South Yorkshire, and don't put any of the other programmes into the "Not Wanted" column, you may still be given a post elsewhere in YHSF depending on how the other candidates score and preference.

Offers and withdrawals

Based on your total score you will be given an individual rank based on your self-assessment tool score. This ranking, in conjunction with your preferenced posts are subjected to an algorithm, which will allocate the available programmes in order of rank and preference. The higher your score & rank combined with the number of posts you preference means you are more likely to be offered a post of your top preference.

In all offer rounds, if you are offered a programme, you are given 48 hours to accept or decline. 

If you decline the offer, you are taken out of the SFP process, and you will continue with your Foundation Programme application only. 

You can withdraw from the SFP process at any time. However, if you accept an SFP post and then withdraw from that post, you are then excluded out of the allocation process for SFP and FP. You will have to reapply the following year.   

As you can apply to two AUoAs, if you accept one post, your other post will automatically be declined on the Oriel system. For example, if you apply to North West and YHFS and accept the North West post, your YHFS will be declined. 

Good luck with your applications!

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