Wessex F1 doctors who meet the eligibility criteria may apply to change their allocated F2 rotation by swapping:
- A 4-month F2 placement with another Foundation doctor
- An entire 12-month F2 rotation with another Foundation doctor
- Into a vacant 12-month F2 rotation. Please note that Foundation doctors must swap their entire rotation and may not swap placements with a vacant F2 rotation.
All swap requests must be made for the site at which the Foundation doctor is located. Swaps between different sites are not permitted.
The term ‘site’ refers to the location of the Foundation doctors training programme regardless of their employing organisation. Wessex training sites are Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Dorchester, Isle of Wight, Jersey, Poole, Portsmouth, Salisbury, Southampton and Winchester. This policy does not apply to Foundation doctors in Kassel.
Eligibility and Process
- The timeline is strict and late applications will not be considered unless in exceptional circumstances (see below).
- For an application to be considered, a Foundation doctor must be on track to successfully complete F1 training in the opinion of their Foundation Programme Director (FPD).
- It is only possible to swap F2 posts or rotations as part of the formal Foundation School process. Private swaps and swaps arranged outside of the application window are not permitted.
- A balanced 2-year training programme must contain the following elements:
- A medical placement in either F1 or F2.
- A surgical placement in either F1 or F2.
- A community placement in either F1 or F2.
- An acute placement in either F1 or F2.
A placement must not be repeated across F1 and F2 except for medicine or surgery where it is a different sub-specialty, i.e., a doctor may have a placement in surgery in both F1 and F2 but within different sub-specialties.
- Swaps between Foundation Schools are not possible via this process. Those wishing to transfer Foundation schools must adhere to the Inter-Foundation School Transfer (IFST) process. Details of the IFST criteria, process and the application window can be found on the UKFPO website: https://foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/faqs/stand-alone-faqs-ifst/
- Foundation doctors in the following groups are not eligible to swap:
- Specialised Foundation Programme
- Foundation Priority Programme – this includes priority pathology programme and enhance explore programme
- Out of Programme (statutory leave or approved time out of training)
- Military Foundation doctors
- In the event of two or more doctors applying to move into the same vacant rotation, a local panel will establish a fair and transparent process to decide which application is successful.
- All applications will be considered by the local panel to ensure that the swap does not disadvantage any Foundation doctor or result in an unbalanced rotation.
A list of any vacant F2 posts and rotations will be circulated to F1 doctors who are due to undertake their F2 year at that site. Note that not all sites will have vacant F2 rotations.
All applicants must complete an application form. Where Foundation doctors wish to swap either a placement or rotation with a peer, both applicants must complete the application form.
Each training site will convene a panel to assess applications after which applicants will be notified of the outcome pending Foundation school approval.
The local Foundation Programme Coordinator (FPC) will inform the Foundation school of the requested swaps and any remaining vacant F2 rotations at the end of the local process.
Exceptional Circumstances
Applications which do not adhere to this policy will only be considered in cases where exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated. This is usually limited to health-related issues. Formal occupational health advice is taken into consideration by the Head of Wessex Foundation School before making any changes to allocations on a case-by-case basis.
Timeline
| Swaps or moves at same training site | Dates | Responsible |
| Latest date by which the list of vacant F2 rotations will be circulated to eligible F1s. FPC will email F1 doctors to inform that the swap applications are open (with a link to this policy and an application form). | 31 December 2025 | FPC/FPD |
| Application window for F1 doctors to apply for swap to vacant F2 posts or rotations at same site. Application form must be submitted to local FPC. | 1 January – 13 February 2026 | F1 doctors |
| Local panel will review applications and inform applicants of local decision regarding swap request pending Foundation school approval. FPC will inform Foundation school of any rotation changes and remaining F2 vacancies by this date. | 27 February 2026 | FPC/FPD |