National Foundation Trainee Pharmacist Recruitment
What's happening now (March - June)
Employer registration for the 2025-26 foundation training year is now closed.
Registration for employers is now closed. Regional Leads will now review the programme information submitted to ensure it complies with NHS England's statutory responsibilities.
If any programme information requires amendment, a representative will be in touch, via email, with employers directly over the next few weeks.
Employer details and programme information will be available on the Oriel platform from early June for prospective applicants to view. Employers should also review the information via Oriel in June to ensure they still want to continue to recruit via the National Recruitment Scheme.
Getting ready for the Foundation Training Year 2025-26
We have prepared resources for employers to get ready for the changes which will be implemented for the foundation training year 2025-26. The main presentation and summary will provide you with the key information you need to prepare now.
You can also watch a narrated presentation and narrated summary on YouTube channel.
Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists (IETP) Reform Programme Update.
You will find links below to webpages to NHS England activity related to the reforms of the IETP. We recommend that you read the information provided and bookmark these pages for future viewing as information on them will be periodically updated. From these pages you can navigate to others that are related to foundation pharmacist training. We also recommend you sign up to Pharmacy News to receive updates on the IETP reforms.
Oriel Discovery exercise launched
A 12-week discovery exercise exploring the user experience of Oriel, the national recruitment system used for Medical, Dental, Pharmacy and Healthcare Science, is underway.
More information is available below.
Recruitment to the 2024-25 Training Year
Employers have now been informed whether their programmes have been filled. To view applicant information, please access the Oriel website via the button below.
There is a guide to support you. Please get in touch with the recruitment team via email for any access issues.
Trainee Pharmacist Recruitment Overview
Complaints Policy
The recruitment and selection process to foundation trainee pharmacist training places aims to have methods that are fair, transparent and free from discrimination.
We publish our recruitment and selection methods within the applicant handbook.
The processes are designed and delivered by the Pharmacy National Recruitment Office (PNRO) working in partnership with local offices of NHS England and Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW). However hard we try to respond to the wishes and aspirations of applicants accessing our recruitment services, we do recognise that, on occasion, our service may fall short of expectations. If you believe this has happened to you, you can use the complaints procedure below, which tells you how to make a complaint and how it will be handled.
Recruitment Timeline
Activity
Month
Applicant handbook available
Mid May
Foundation Pharmacist Training Programme information available on Oriel
5 June 2024
Application window opens
5 June 2024 at 12pm
Application window closes
19 June 2024 at 12pm
Preferencing window opens
24 July 2024
Numeracy/SJT centre booking window opens
31 July 2024
Numeracy/SJT centre booking window closes
14 August 2024
Numeracy/SJT centre Start Date (Pearson VUE Test Centres)
19 September 2024
Numeracy/SJT centre End Date (Pearson VUE Test Centres)
2 October 2024
Preferencing window closes
29 October 2024
First round of offers released
Early November 2024
Offers upgrade deadline
Late November 2024
Programmes commence
July/August 2025
*Please note the date/items are subject to change/TBC