Introduction
To support the recommendations of the 2019 Foundation Programme review by Health Education England (HEE), the Royal College of Psychiatrists, proposed to appoint 40 fellows, in collaboration with the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) through a competitive application process. The posts will be located across England only but applicants from all four nations will be eligible to apply.
Aims
The Psychiatry Foundation Fellowship programme aims to improve exposure to the specialty for foundation trainees. The scheme will ensure that a greater number of Foundation Doctors are supported in their interest in Psychiatry throughout the Foundation programme, maintaining and enhancing their enthusiasm for the specialty. This is especially important for those who may have limited opportunity to explore their interest via a clinical placement. Psychiatry has faced challenge historically in recruiting to Core Training posts. The aim of the scheme is to identify medical students with above average academic ability who have expressed an interest in psychiatry as a potential career choice and to support them through to application for specialty training. The Fellowship will last for the duration of the foundation programme i.e. two years. During this time, they will be supported through the Foundation Programme and into Core Training.
Programme Distribution
Psychiatry Foundation Fellowship Programmes will be located across England as detailed in the table below: -
| Foundation School | Number of Fellowships |
| East Anglia | 3 |
| Essex, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire (EBH) | 2 |
| Leicestershire, Northants and Rutland (LNR) | 2 |
| North Central and East London | 2 |
| North West London | 2 |
| North West of England | 2 |
| Northern | 4 |
| Oxford | 2 |
| Peninsula | 3 |
| Severn | 2 |
| South Thames | 2 |
| Trent | 2 |
| Wessex | 2 |
| West Midlands Central | 2 |
| West Midlands North | 2 |
| West Midlands South | 2 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 4 |
| Total | 40 |
Advertising Programmes
Psychiatry Foundation Fellowship Programmes will be advertised through a separate vacancy on Oriel. Applicants will therefore have the option to apply to a maximum of five vacancies for UKFP 2020; 1 standard FP application (mandatory), up to 2 AFP applications, 1 application for Foundation Priority Programmes (FPP) and 1 for Psychiatry Foundation Fellowships (PFF). The window for applications will be exactly the same as for all other applications.
The vacancy for PFF will be published as part of the ‘Foundation’ staff group. The vacancy will however be set up under a different round so the experience for applicants will be slightly different as the preferences will not appear on the Foundation Programmes list screen on Oriel. The UKFPO will provide clear guidance for applicants on where to access information about these posts.
The vacancy number for 2020 applications is : UKFPO/20-21/PWY/0168562550/FND
Interviews
The Royal College of Psychiatry will manage the interview process. Further details and scoring criteria to be confirmed by the college in due course.
Offers
The UKFPO will manage the offers process centrally. Offers will be made sequentially for the recruitment to these new posts to align with the national accepted business process: 1) AFP, 2) PFF, 3) FPP and 4) FP.
Applicants who accept and offer for AFP will be withdrawn from PFF, FPP and FP. Applicants who accept an offer for PFF will be withdrawn from FPP and FP.
Any unfilled Psychiatry Fellowship posts will need to be transferred across to the FP vacancy by midday on Monday 9th March 2020 for inclusion in the national allocation process for standard FP places.
Timeline
| Dates | Recruitment Activity |
| Monday 30th September - Friday 11th October 2019 | National Application Window (all vacancies) |
| Monday 14th October 2019 - Friday 10th January 2020 | AFP Interviews |
| Monday 17th February 2020 | AFP Offers concluded |
| Monday 14th October 2019 - Friday 10th January 2020 | Interviews for Psychiatric Fellowships |
| Monday 10th February 2020 | Intevriew Scores for Psychiatric Fellowships on Oriel |
| Wednesday 19th February 2020 | Offers for Psychiatric Fellowships |
| Wednesday 4th March 2020 | Offers for FPP |
| Monday 9th March 2020 at 12:00 | Unfilled PFF and FPP places uploaded to FP |
| Thursday 12th March 2020 | National allocation to FP |
| Thursday 9th April 2020 | Match to Programmes |
The application window for these posts will be consistent with the timeline for all other foundation applications.
YHFS have chosen the following 4 programmes to be offered as PFFs
| 2020PFF-WY183 | WY 2 year Foundation programme F1 Bradford / F2 C & H (Psychiatry Fellowship) | General (Internal) Medicine - Geriatric Medicine | General Psychiatry | General Surgery | Paediatrics | General Surgery UGI | General (Internal) Medicine - Geriatric Medicine / Acute Elderly Medicine |
| 2020PFF - SY067 | SY 2 Year foundation Programme F1 Sheffield / F2 Doncaster (Psychiatric Fellowship) | General Psychiatric Adult Inpatient | General Surgery Vascular | General (Internal) Medicine - E&D | Renal Medicine | Urology | Intensive Care Medicine |
| 2020PFF - EY071 | EY 2 Year Foundation Programme F1 Hull / F2 Scunthorpe (Psychiatric Fellowship) | General Psychiatry | Geriatric Medicine | General Surgery Upper GI Surgery | Paediatrics | Emergency Medicine | Rehabilitation Medicine |
| 2020PFF - EY079 | EY 2 Year Foundation Programme F1 Hull / F2 Hull (Psychiatric Fellowship) | General Surgery - Colorectal | General Psychiatry | Geriatric Medicine | General Practice | Urology | Emergency Medicine |