South Thames Foundation School

The foundation programme is the bridge between undergraduate medical education and postgraduate training to become a general practitioner or specialist.  STFS aims to provide our new doctors with the support and opportunities to enable them to make this transition successfully.

My experience in STFS

“I completed my F1 year in Ashford, Kent and then my F2 programme at a London teaching hospital. This is fairly representative of the majority of South Thames Foundation School programmes, offering a year inside and outside of London.

The values and experience that you get are quite different, at two very contrasting hospitals with different populations, and the breadth and experience of patients that you see will actually probably lead you to become a better doctor.

For example, there’s a mass of HIV and TB that you’ll see in London that you will hardly ever see elsewhere, but in my experience the district general hospitals offer a wealth of opportunities to practice procedural skills, excellent opportunities to do lumber punctures and central lines. Although sometimes it is a bit difficult moving and living elsewhere for another year, I think that the opportunities offered make this very worthwhile.”

Dr Chris Gough
STFS foundation doctor 2007-9