The Foundation Programme
The Foundation Programme is a two-year training programme for doctors after leaving medical school. It is designed to give trainees a range of general experience and enable them to take on supervised responsibility for patient care as a professional in the workplace, before choosing an area of medicine in which to specialise.
In the first year of the Foundation Programme (F1) a provisionally registered doctor must demonstrate the outcomes in The Trainee Doctor before they are eligible to apply for full registration with the GMC. In the second year of the Foundation Programme (F2) trainees have full registration with the GMC, and remain under clinical supervision while taking increasing responsibility for patient care.
Since the merger of PMETB with the GMC on 1 April 2010, the GMC has been wholly responsible for setting the standards and outcomes for the Foundation Programme, and assuring the quality of the training managed and delivered by postgraduate deaneries and local education providers.
The Trainee Doctor sets out the standards that Foundation Programme providers must meet, and the outcomes that F1 doctors must demonstrate before they are eligible to apply for full registration with a licence to practise.
The curriculum
The curriculum for the Foundation Programme has been developed by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and is followed by all trainees in the United Kingdom.
View the curriculum on the UK Foundation Programme Office website
The GMC has approved the Foundation Curriculum as meeting its standards for training and content for the Foundation Programme. Provisionally registered doctors will be able to demonstrate they have met the outcomes for full registration by successfully completing the requirements of the curriculum.
Admissions
Recruitment to the Foundation Programme is administered nationally by the UK Foundation Programme Office. Further information can be found on the UK Foundation Programme Office website.
Guidance on sick leave
The GMC has determined that in the first year of the Foundation Programme, up to four weeks sick or compassionate leave can be taken - view Guidance on sick leave for doctors with provisional registration and a licence to practise (pdf).