Foundation Assistantships
Assistantship and shadowing help equip new doctors with the local knowledge and skills they need for their first day as an F1.
Final year medical students have the opportunity to spend several weeks working with F1s on the wards. Each medical school will have information about local arrangements.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, our local Medical Schools are working together to provide assistantships in the hospital base that F1s who stay in the region will be working.
Hull York Medical School
At the Hull York Medical School (HYMS) the assistantship is an eight-week period occurring after the final written and clinical exam period, usually in April – June.
During the assistantship the students are required to complete the immediate life support (ILS) course and the Preparation for Practice (PforP) course as well as other assessments aimed at preparing them for the transition to their F1 doctor post commencing in August of that year.
The Preparation for Practice (PforP) course is designed to aid in the transition to working doctor and includes elements of practical guidance by junior doctors and resilience training.
There is the option of doing part of the assistantship in the Leeds or Sheffield areas if the student has been allocated there for their F1 post and students from Leeds and Sheffield can come to the HYMS area if allocated to one of our local hospitals for F1. Wherever possible we attempt to allocate all students remaining local for their F1 post to the actual team with which they will work during the first four months as a new doctor.
Leeds Medical School
Post-finals Assistantships is the three-week period after final examinations. For students within the West Yorkshire Foundation School (WYFS), this is arranged automatically and will take place within the hospital, and typically the post, you will be working in. For those with FY1 posts outside of WYFS you will undertake 3 weeks in West Yorkshire in a placement similar to your first F1 specialty.
The post-finals assistantship period will include the dates of the sequential finals written and OSCE examinations. It is expected that students who are required to sit the sequential tests will still undertake post-finals assistantships during the specified time-period, other than the dates of the exams.
Sheffield Medical School
The post-finals Student Assistantship completes phase 4 of undergraduate medical training at the University of Sheffield.
This is a six-week clinical attachment matched to the students' future F1 job or to a similar job should they be leaving the area. This will provide students the opportunity to take on many of the duties of a junior doctor, under the close supervision of the clinical team.