National Foundation Trainee Pharmacist Recruitment

Applicant Enquiries

The PGMDE Support Portal is used for applicants to find information relating to recruitment activity.
Please access the portal below, use the search function for FAQs or submit an applicant enquiry form if you cannot find the answers you are looking for.
In collaboration with NHS England, HEIW (Wales) and NES (Scotland), the RPS has published answers to commonly asked questions regarding the National Recruitment Scheme.

What's happening now

Preferencing window is open from 24 July to 29 October 2024

Preferencing is now open for students to choose and rank the programme they are interested in applying for through the Oriel system.
More information is available under the preferencing page.

Getting ready for the Foundation Training Year 2025-26

We have prepared resources for employers to get ready for the changes which will be implemented for the foundation training year 2025-26. The main presentation and summary will provide you with the key information you need to prepare now.
You can also watch a narrated presentation and narrated summary on YouTube channel.

Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists (IETP) Reform Programme Update.
You will find links below to webpages to NHS England activity related to the reforms of the IETP. We recommend that you read the information provided and bookmark these pages for future viewing as information on them will be periodically updated. From these pages you can navigate to others that are related to foundation pharmacist training. We also recommend you sign up to Pharmacy News to receive updates on the IETP reforms.

Trainee Pharmacist Recruitment Overview

FTY Recruitment Overview Diagram

Complaints Policy

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.

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Recruitment Timeline

Activity

Month

Applicant handbook available

Mid May

Foundation Pharmacist Training Programme information available on Oriel

7 June 2024

Application window opens

7 June 2024 at 12pm

Application window closes

21 June 2024 at 12pm

Preferencing window opens

24 July 2024

Numeracy/SJT centre booking window opens

31 July 2024

Numeracy/SJT centre booking window closes

14 August 2024

Numeracy/SJT centre Start Date (Pearson VUE Test Centres)

19 September 2024

Numeracy/SJT centre End Date (Pearson VUE Test Centres)

2 October 2024

Preferencing window closes

29 October 2024

First round of offers released

Early November 2024

Offers upgrade deadline

Late November 2024

Programmes commence

July/August 2025