Most F2 doctors get specialty place

22 December 2011

MOST trainees who successfully completed the foundation programme in 2011 went on to find a specialty training place.

New figures show just over 73 per cent of F2 doctors secured a place in specialty training, the UK Foundation Programme Office has said.

Data from 25 UK schools shows only 2.7 per cent took up locum appointments for training or service posts and 8.2 per cent took up posts outside the UK. One in 10 doctors who completed the foundation programme this year were still looking for jobs in the UK or abroad as of August 2011.

But the proportion of doctors appointed to specialty training has dropped since last year by more than 10 per cent to 83.1 per cent. UKFPO deputy national director Stuart Carney said the difference may be down to the higher quality of this year’s data and the better response from foundation schools.

A total of 7,302 (96.4 per cent) F2 doctors successfully completed the foundation programme and were signed off in August 2011.

Around 10 to 14 per cent of foundation doctors who apply for specialty training don’t meet the person specification, said Dr Carney. Not all doctors are suited to all specialties and applicants are interviewing eight months before they complete the foundation programme, so “they may not demonstrate all the attributes that the panel are looking for,” he said. “Plus it’s always been part of the pattern in the UK for around 20 per cent of individuals to opt out of the traditional career pathway.”