South Thames Foundation School

2-YEAR ACADEMIC FOUNDATION PROGRAMMES AT
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON MEDICAL SCHOOL (UCL)

1. INTRODUCTION

The North Central Thames Foundation School (NCTFS) is a Foundation School of the London Deanery, based at UCL Medical School.

NCTFS offers 25 academic places, within 8 rotations, comprising different speciality-based academic programmes. The two-year programmes will deliver the full range of competences required of the Foundation Programme Curriculum. The F1 Year will be within the London area, although not at the same hospital as the F2 year. The F2 programmes will each include a placement in a centre of academic and research excellence.

Successful applicants will be offered a list of available F1 posts and asked to rank them according to their preferences. The outcome will depend on their academic application score.

During F2, all doctors accepted for the academic programme will have:

• A 4-month academic attachment as one element of their 12-month rotation (except for the Whittington, where the attachment is for 3 months).
• A mentor throughout the year.
• A core programme run throughout the year aimed to develop academic skills.
• Visitor status within the appropriate Division to enable access to UCL on-line library facilities.

2. DETAILS OF TRAINING PROGRAMMES

The F1 attachments will be in hospitals near to the three academic campuses utilised during F2 – i.e. will be at Barnet General Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, and North Middlesex Hospital. F2 rotations will be based at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust (RFH) and the Whittington Hospital NHS Trust (WHT). 

3. THE MEDICAL SCHOOL AND PARTNER TRUSTS

UCL Medical School
UCL Medical School is committed to excellence in education and has a strong reputation for teaching informed by cutting-edge research. The School has a distinguished cadre of academic staff who are at the forefront of international research in medical sciences and clinical medicine.

Staff research activities, directed towards patient-centred outcomes, are supported by partnerships with NHS trusts. Several world famous clinical and research institutions are closely associated with the Medical School. The school is one of the largest in the country and is situated in the heart of London at three main campuses; the Bloomsbury campus, the Royal Free campus, and the Whittington campus; all with clinical facilities, teaching laboratories, lecture theatres and libraries.

UCL Medical School has a distinguished history; it emerged from the amalgamation of Middlesex Hospital, University College Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital. These organisations combine a rich past in the history of science and medicine with advanced clinical practice. Among past and present staff are Nobel Prize winners (Huxley, Hill and Katz) and numerous Fellows of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

The North Central Thames Foundation School has academic training programmes in the following London Deanery Trusts:

Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust (RFH)
The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust has around 900 beds and sees about 700,000 patients a year from all over the world. The Trust employs around 4,600 people and has a turnover of about £450m. The services include a major accident and emergency service, all branches of surgery and medicine, a renal service serving the whole of north London, paediatrics, maternity services, care of elderly people, an adolescent psychiatric service and one of two high security infectious diseases units in the country.

Royal Free is renowned for their specialist services including liver, kidney and bone marrow transplantation, renal, AIDS/HIV, infectious diseases, plastic surgery, immunology, paediatric gastroenterology, ENT surgery and audiological medicine, amyloidosis and scleroderma. The Trust is a leading cancer centre with a range of specialist diagnostic and treatment services in oncology and haematology and a major neuroscience base with a network extending throughout north London and into the Home Counties. There are associated internationally recognised research and training programmes.

The hospitals and associated medical school conduct medical research, much of which is of international status, and constitute a leading site for the training of doctors, nurses, midwives and professions allied to medicine.

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust (WHT)
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust is an acute general teaching hospital situated in Archway, in the north of Islington. The Trust primarily serves the communities of north Islington and west Haringey, a population of approximately 250,000 people. The hospital also treats a significant number of patients from Camden, Barnet and Hackney. There are 467 beds and over 2,000 staff. The Whittington is one of the teaching hospitals of the University of London. The Trust provides clinical placements for undergraduates and has a large post-graduate training centre. In addition, it provides training for a wide range of other health professionals including nurses, midwives, radiographers and dieticians.

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH)
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), situated in the heart of London, is one of the most complex NHS Trusts in the United Kingdom, serving a large and diverse population. UCLH provides academically led acute and specialist services, both locally and to patients from throughout the United Kingdom and abroad. UCLH balances the provision of highly rated specialist services with providing acute services to the local populations of Camden, Islington, Westminster and the City of London.

The Trust has a turnover of £632 million and contracts with more than 150 Primary Care Trusts to provide services. They treat over 500,000 outpatients appointments and admit 100,000 patients each year. UCLH employs 6,000 staff and is a major teaching centre offering training for nurses, doctors and other health care professionals.

The Trust has an international reputation and a tradition of innovation. Their excellence in research and development was recognised in December 2006 when in partnership with University College London they became one of the country’s five comprehensive biomedical research centres. Operational from September 2008, UCL Partners was created, bringing together five of Britain's world renowned medical research centres and hospitals: UCL (University College London); Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust (GOSH): Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust; and, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.