Foundation Trainee Pharmacist National Recruitment Scheme

Registration for employers is now closed. Regional Leads will now review the programme information submitted to ensure it complies with NHS England's statutory responsibilities.

If any programme information requires amendment, a representative will be in touch, via email, with employers directly over the next few weeks.

Employer details and programme information will be available on the Oriel platform from early June for prospective applicants to view. Employers should also review the information via Oriel in June to ensure they still want to continue to recruit via the National Recruitment Scheme.

Applications for the 2026-27 Foundation Trainee Pharmacist training year open on 4 June 2025 (12pm) via the Oriel website, this is the only way to obtain a foundation training place in England and Wales.

The applicant handbook is available below.

Trainees undertaking their foundation training in the 2025 - 2026 training year should commence their training on a suitable date, agreed with their employer, within the Summer window: 14 July 2025 to 4 August 2025.

In exceptional circumstances only, trainees may commence their training in the Autumn window: 20 October 2025 to 10 November 2025.

Further information on the 2025 - 2026 training year, including the Terms of Participation and employer programme information can be found by clicking on the 'Employer information and FAQs' button on this page..

The recruitment and selection process to foundation trainee pharmacist training places aims to have methods that are fair, transparent and free from discrimination.

We publish our recruitment and selection methods within the applicant handbook.

The processes are designed and delivered by the Pharmacy National Recruitment Office (PNRO) working in partnership with local offices of NHS England and Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW). However hard we try to respond to the wishes and aspirations of applicants accessing our recruitment services, we do recognise that, on occasion, our service may fall short of expectations. If you believe this has happened to you, you can use the complaints procedure below, which tells you how to make a complaint and how it will be handled.