Two Year Recruitment Process
The timeline for recruitment to the two year Foundation Programme for the next August F1 will be published each year by the UKFPO. For all national information (including eligibility) and guidelines on the recruitment process to two year Foundation programmes, please go to the UKFPO website.
Local information will be updated regularly. (Please also see left hand menu).
Please see UKFPO Timeline for important dates such as Allocation to School, Group Preferencing window and Programme allocation dates. It is important to keep checking the UKFPO website to ensure no changes have been made to dates and times.
Preference Informed Allocation (PIA)
Further information can be found on the UKFPO website
Communication if Allocated to the Peninsula Foundation School
If you are allocated to the Peninsula Foundation School, all communication from allocation day onwards will be made via the email address on your Oriel Account. Please ensure that you will still have access to the email address you have used on Oriel from allocation day right up until the August you start in post. This is vital as we will send you various information about your 'next steps'
Communication after August
Once you start in trust your trust will provide the school with your NHS email address and all future communication will then be made using your NHS email address unless you tell the school otherwise.
Pre-allocation
The Peninsula Foundation School will only honour matching to trust level for the following Pre-allocated applicants:
- All Pre-allocation applicants who are the parent or legal guardian of children under the age of 18. Applicants will be matched to a programme in the trust/ city or town nearest their home address.
- All Pre-allocation applicants who declare any health reasons that are confirmed by an occupational health recommendation report clearly stating that they need to be in the trust/ city or town nearest their home address.
- The school will also consider any exceptional circumstances on the production of suitable supporting evidence e.g. Olympians who need to be in a particular location near to their training camp base. Needing to live near a partner or family is NOT considered an exceptional circumstance.
All other Pre-allocation applicants will be matched to school only and will be allocated to their Group/Programme using the UKFPO’s Preferenced Informed Allocation (PIA) algorithm.
Pre-allocation to programmes does not include any SFP programmes
The following information has been designed to provide applicants with some useful general information on how foundation training is organised in the Peninsula Foundation School:
General information on how Foundation training is organised within Peninsula Foundation School
In addition, we hope that the following Q and As will assist applicants:
Will Peninsula Foundation School be holding an open day?
We can confirm our Welcome Event will be held online from 1pm on Thursday 19th March.
All applicants allocated to our school will be given event information within an email welcoming you to our school, so please look out for this email. Due to availability of our trust faculty and existing Foundation residents the event may be in a different format to that held in previous years.
How will applicants be matched to a Group and then a Programme?
From entry to Foundation F1 2026 the Peninsula Foundation School will be using Groups for the first time. We will now be using the Two-Stage Matching process (match to group and then to programme). Please ensure you see our Programmes & Job Descriptions page for further information on how Group allocation will work in the Peninsula.
Dates and details of the group and programme preferencing and matching process will be published on the UKFPO timeline please ensure you check the timeline regularly for any changes or updates.
The same computer-generated rank will be used when allocating applicants at the group/programme match stage. Applicants will not receive a new rank for group or programme matching. The same rank will be used at all stages. (This applies to the standard Foundation Programme and Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP) Group).
All UKFP applicants are matched to a Group and then programme based on their PIA rank and preferences using the PIA algorithm and the two pass system. Please refer to the UKFPO Preference-Informed-Allocation-Flowcharts and the UKFPO website for further information.
SFP Group - Please see UKFPO guidance for further details and for specific information on the posts available see our Peninsula Specialised Foundation Programmes page
All SFP Research, Medical Education and Leadership & Management Programmes available will be placed in a Group on their own, all remaining programmes will be 5 Groups, one for each trust location. You will need to rank all groups in the initial Group Preferencing Window.
Matched to a group: applicants are required to preference groups in order of choice. Applicants are matched to a group based on their PIA rank and preferences. Our SFP group will contain programmes based in Exeter, Plymouth, Torbay and Truro. If you are allocated a SFP programme location that will be your 2 year programme you will not be able to change to another Foundation Programme. You will be able to apply for a F2 programme Swap during your F1 year if you do not wish to undertake an academic F2 but we cannot guarantee a Swap will be approved as it will depend on the F2 vacancies available.
Matched to a programme: once matched to groups, applicants will be invited to preference the programmes in that group in order of choice. Applicants are matched to a programme based on their PIA rank and preferences.
Any applicants that do not select their preferences for Group and or Programme by the UKFPO's published deadlines for Group and Programme Preferencing will be randomly allocated to a Group/Programme once all other applicants are matched.
The Peninsula Foundation School DO NOT operate a F1 Swaps process you will not be able to Swap your allocated F1 programme.
In the Peninsula Foundation School you will be matched to a two year fixed foundation programme and will know the trust and programme for F1 and F2, at the point of recruitment. We currently offer a F2 Swaps Process details of the current offer are available on our F2 Swaps Policy page but this is reviewed every year and is subject to change
In previous recruitment years, Foundation Schools created and published histograms or bar charts that displayed the range of FP total scores received by applicants allocated to the Foundation School. As the FP total score is no longer used within the allocation process, these charts will no longer be produced.
Will Peninsula be honouring linked applications to Group matching?
From entry to Foundation F1 2026 the Peninsula Foundation school will be using Groups for the first time. We have taken this decision due to the rapid expansion in the number of posts available in the Peninsula in recent years. This has made the task of ranking all of our programmes more onerous.
The Peninsula Foundation School remains committed to maintain links between applicants from the national linked application process to school through to matching to F1 location. If you are allocated by PIA to the Peninsula Foundation School with your linked applicant (see UKFP 2024 Applicant Guide to Allocation) the Peninsula Foundation School will honour linked applications to the Group match stage.
All applicants will be matched to a 2-year fixed programme. In the Peninsula Foundation School linked applicants can decide whether they want to maintain their link to Group Allocation. Where changes are needed to the post allocation to accommodate linking, the lower of the two individuals’ final Preferenced Informed Allocation (PIA) rank is fixed and the higher PIA ranked applicant will secure one of their lesser preferred Groups.
In addition to the SFP group, we have split all our non-academic programmes into 5 Groups one for each of our trust locations.
The Five Groups will be as follows in alphabetical order:
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust - Cornwall
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust- EAST - Exeter
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust- WEST- North Devon
Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust - Torbay
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust - Plymouth
From F1 2026 we will only continue to honour the link to the Group allocation stage only.
By opting to maintain your link to the Group allocation stage you will be able to opt to be in the same F1 location (unless the link is broken under certain circumstances. Please see our Linked Applicant Policy for full details).
- PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE A SMALL NUMBER OF PROGRAMMES (Approximately 13 programmes out of 310) THAT HAVE DIFFERENT LOCATIONS FROM THE F1 YEAR FOR THE F2 YEAR therefore this is why we cannot guarantee you will be in the same trust locations for both F1 and F2
In the event of National oversubscription of the Foundation Programme if one applicant is matched to a Placeholder programme then the link will be broken. Both applicants will need to be allocated to the same Group, If one applicant is allocated to the SFP Group and another to the main FP group the Link will be broken. If both applicants are matched to the SFP Group then the link will be broken.
Does Peninsula support trainees who want to complete F2 abroad?
No, the Peninsula does not offer this option.
Withdrawing from the Foundation Programme
Appointment to a post is dependant upon the applicant successfully completing medical school (passing finals) and is subject to pre-employment checks. To be fair to all our Trusts if you are told by your medical school that you will not be able to graduate, please let us know as soon as possible, by contacting suzanne.maddock2@nhs.net. Your medical school will not inform the Foundation School for you.
If you will not be taking up your allocated post for any other reason then again please let us know as soon as possible.
In accordance with Good Medical Practice 2024, we ask you to act professionally throughout the recruitment process. To access the Peninsula Foundation School Code of Conduct please click on the link below:
Peninsula Foundation School Code of Conduct
The Foundation Team at the Peninsula Foundation School are here to support you. If you have any queries or concerns please contact Suzanne Maddock , Foundation School Manager on 01752 590626.