Foundation schools

Q: What is a foundation school?

Foundation schools bring together medical schools, the local deanery, trusts (acute, mental health and PCTs) and other organisations (e.g. hospices) to offer foundation doctors training in a range of different settings and clinical environments. The schools are administered by a central local staff which is supported by the deanery.

Q: What is a deanery?

The deaneries are responsible for the management and delivery of postgraduate medical education and for the continuing professional development of all doctors and dentists. This includes ensuring that all training posts provide the necessary opportunities for doctors and dentists in training to realise their full potential and provide high quality patient care. The deaneries are also responsible for trainers, educational supervisors and educational leaders, their training needs and educational development.

Q: What is an affiliated foundation school?

By special agreement between the Department of Health (England) and the Health Care Services Division of the Maltese Ministry for Social Policy, the UKFPO has provided technical support to establish a foundation school in Malta. The UKFPO has recognised the Malta Foundation School as an affiliated school which means it provides the same training as UK foundation schools. It is regulated by the Medical Council of Malta. Trainees who satisfactorily complete the Foundation Programme in Malta, will be awarded the same Foundation Achievement of Competency Documents as UK foundation doctors and will be able to apply for specialty posts in Malta and the UK. The Malta Foundation School has its own recruitment process and will not participate in the Foundation Programme 2010 recruitment process run through the UKFPO website. More details are available from the Malta Foundation School website.