Foundation

The Wales Foundation School offers a variety of training opportunities across great locations, and we're friendly too! We work alongside teams in our hospitals to provide an enriching and fulfilling experience of the Foundation Programme to aid the transition from medical student to doctor, through high quality training and support.

The Foundation Programme is a two year generic training programme for medical school graduates, designed to bridge the gap between undergraduate study and postgraduate medical specialty training. We aim to provide a solid knowledge and experience base for new doctors before they choose an area of medicine in which to specialise.

The Foundation School manages the allocation processes to Foundation Year 1 and Foundation Year 2, and supports the delivery of Foundation Training and the development of Foundation Doctors.

From 2023, Wales has adopted a paired Foundation Programme. This means that Foundation Doctors will be allocated to their 2 year placements from the start of their training.

The Wales Foundation Programme is coordinated by the Wales Foundation School (based within Health Education Improvement Wales) from Nantgarw, South Wales.  

You can contact the Foundation School by email at HEIW.FoundationSchool@wales.nhs.uk

All of our Programmes deliver sufficient training to achieve the clinical competencies required by the Foundation Programme Curriculum, have been designed in line with the General Medical Council (GMC) national standards for training and can result in full registration with the GMC, as well as providing a range of other skills and experiences. You can find the full list of Programmes on the Programmes tab.

You can find further information on the national Foundation Programme on the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) website. Further information specific to Wales is included on this website.