It can be hard trying to choose a Foundation School, there are many options for newly graduated medical students seeking to apply for their Foundation 1 and Foundation 2 jobs. There is a grand total of 20 different Foundation Schools in the UK. Foundation Schools are sometimes referred to as Deaneries. Ultimately, the school that you choose to apply to will entirely depend on where you would like to study, and which of the deaneries best suit your requirements.
Each of the Foundation Schools are situated in a range of locations, some are situated between big cities and some between small towns, covering both general hospitals and teaching hospitals. It is quite often the case that applicants will choose the Foundation School of the medical school in which they completed their studies, or the one which is closest to their home.
It is not uncommon however, for applicants to want to choose a Foundation School in a different area of the country to explore what other areas have to offer. During the application process, applicants will have to rank all 20 of the Foundation Schools in the UK according to their preference.
In terms of being the most competitive school, North West London definitely takes the lead as seen in a recent study carried out by Messly. For every place available in the Foundation School, there were three applicants who applied. Some could argue that this could mean the North West London Deanery is the best.
It is closely followed by the East London and Central London schools respectively. The least desirable of the London Deaneries seemed to be South Thames, meaning that of the London Schools, it certainly isn’t the best.
In terms of overall satisfaction, a recent 2018 study showed that the Wales Deanery achieved the highest satisfaction score (76.95) out of all of the schools. This could also arguably mean that the Wales Foundation School is the best if we are going by these 2018 statistics. Health Education South West and Health Education North East came in at second and third in terms of satisfaction.
However, it is worth noting that outside of London, deaneries are not quite as oversubscribed or competitive meaning you are more likely to get the school of your choice if it lies outside of London.
The Foundation Priority Programme, or FPP was introduced in the hopes of giving many applicants the chance to apply for some of the foundation jobs that perhaps struggled to retain or attract newly qualified doctors. FPP’s can give applicants a broad range of experience and offer things like financial incentives, experience in more specific areas of specialisation and extra medical education.
The FPP is only offered at East Anglia, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire (EBH), North Central and East London, North West of England, Northern, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Thames, Wales, Wessex, West Midlands North and West Midlands South. This could mean to some, that these are a better choice of Foundation School.
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