Update: National Foundation Trainee Pharmacist Recruitment Scheme via Oriel
Please find below the September update on the progress of the National Foundation Trainee Pharmacist Recruitment Scheme via Oriel. This information was emailed to pharmacies directly by the Midlands Recruitment Pharmacy Team (WT&E) earlier this month.
The update provides dates for student exams, preferencing, and allocation of placements. There is also a date for removing placements if a contractor is not able to fulfil the obligations of the DPP provision for the IP training in 25/26. This information is critical for community contractors who have not been in contact with the ICB throughout the oriel process and may not be aware of the timelines.
Further guidance is available from the Pharmacist Support network here.
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The Situational Judgement Test (SJT) and Numeracy Assessment will take place between 19th September 2024 and 2nd October 2024.
SJT and Numeracy Assessment scores will be combined (this process is managed by our assessment and evaluation partner, Work Psychology Group) and all candidates will be ranked in order of their overall performance against their peers within the scheme.
Applicants are required to complete preferencing of the pharmacy foundation programmes listed on the Oriel platform by the 29th October 2024. This is an important part of the application process, as applicants indicate the pharmacy foundation programmes they are interested in and rule out any that they do not wish to be considered for. You are reminded that any changes to your programmes must be completed by 11th October 2024 to ensure that applicants are selecting places based on correct information. As per our August communications, only amendments to the number of places available, Skilled Worker Visa sponsorship status and its associated salary, can be made. Should amendments be required, please let us know via email immediately with the subject heading ‘Programme Preference Change Request’.
Based on their ranked score and their preferencing choices, applicants will be made offers for foundation training in November, with the option to upgrade any offer they are made to a more preferred foundation programme, if one becomes available due to it being declined by a peer within the scheme. The offer process is co-ordinated through the Oriel platform by the Pharmacy National Recruitment Office. If you wish to know more about how the offers process works, please see the employer handbook or the applicant handbook.
Employers will be notified in December 2024 if their programme(s) has been filled or not. The details of those who have been recruited will be provided to employers whose programmes have been filled via the scheme. It is the employer’s responsibility to contact the successful trainee(s) as soon as possible after receiving the trainee(s) details. It is recommended that a contract of employment is issued at this point.
As with any recruitment process, NHS England cannot guarantee that all programmes advertised will be filled, due to more places being available than applicants to fill them. Currently 3687 applicants are eligible to receive an offer of Pharmacy foundation training via Oriel. The number of foundation training places within the recruitment scheme is currently 4732.
We hope you find this information useful, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you would like to withdraw from the scheme, please reply to this email without delay so that your programme(s) can be removed from the Oriel platform.
Kind Regards
Midlands Recruitment Pharmacy Team (WT&E)
NHS England
Email: england.midlandsfoundationpharmacyrecruitment@nhs.net
Website: www.england.nhs.uk
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