Foundation Programme applications
Update from the Medical Students Committee
October 2007
You may by now know that the Foundation Programme application form, questions and guidance are now available on the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) website.
Although the Medical Students Committee has been representing students on the various groups which have been looking at the process for this next round, we have not been part of the discussions about the questions or the scoring. We have, though, made your views clear, based on what applicants told us last year and from the results of our survey.
Application questions
We are disappointed about the balance of questions this year, especially as we made our views clear that some of the questions needed to change.
We said that the form should allow applicants to represent themselves fully and fairly and that changes to last years questions were needed, especially the most difficult to answer questions - professionalism, patient as the central focus of care and academic achievements. We also pressed for a ‘free text’ section to be included in the form for a personal statement as we believe this will allow applicants a further opportunity to present themselves fully and fairly.
We do not believe that there is enough in the form this year to allow applicants to allow applicants to provide a fully rounded application. Only one question allows a student to give an example of experience outside medical school. All other questions relate to the clinical environment or medical education, which is disappointing.
Although we have been encouraged throughout our medical school years to participate in activities outside of medicine it is disappointing that the form does not adequately reflect and reward such activities.
We have made our concerns clear to the UKFPO. We have also raised a number of other questions:
Numbers of places
We have made clear that the guarantee that all graduates from UK medical schools will get a place on the foundation programme should stand.
Some of you may have noticed that the numbers of places available appears to differ between the guidance booklet (page 6) and the application form (page 18). Those in the application form are correct and the UKFPO are making amendments to the form. The UKFPO have confirmed that these figures are from last year and are intended only to give an illustration about what the application form will look like when the process goes ‘live’ on 29 October. The correct numbers of posts and local students will appear in the final version of the form on 29 October. It is extremely unlikely that anything else in the form will change.
Security
We have been reassured that the application website is secure and that rigorous security checks have been put in place.
The scoring panels will only be provided with the answers to questions and the applicant number. All other information is held on a secure database and passed to employers for pre-employment checks once an offer of a training place has been made.
The information you provide on gender, ethnic origin, religious belief, etc will be held on a secure database, and compiled into a statistical report, which will not indicate individuals, sent to your employer to help them ensure they are adhering to equality and diversity guidelines. This information will not be seen by those making decisions.
Student BMJ
You may have seen an article about the application process in the October edition of Student BMJ. This article is almost completely inaccurate as it is based on last years application process.
Information about the questions and the scores available for each question, as well as the overall score available is incorrect.
The correct information is available from the UKFPO website.
Keeping you updated
MSC News
Read the October 2007 edition of our MSC newsletter.
The newsletter gives you information about the main issues we are taking forward on your behalf.
Your MSC representative
The Medical Students Committee works on behalf of medical students around the UK on issues that are important to you. We listen to your views through local reps, the annual medical students’ conference, emails, and our surveys. We lobby Government and campaigns on areas of concern such as student finance, welfare, and education.
The committee is made up of elected student members from all the UK medical schools and is there to represent your views at national and local level. We have MSC reps and Intra School Committee (ISC) chairs at each medical school who are there to listen to you and feed back your views nationally, and to make sure you know what we are doing for you.
Please contact your MSC reps and ISC chairs and let them have your views. They should also be able to update you on with progress on this and other work we are taking forward for you. See their details now.
We will continue to keep you updated so please also check our webpages regularly
With best wishes
Ian Noble
Chair, Medical Students Committee