Linked Applicants Policy - Working across the South West

The Peninsula Foundation School supports linked applicants from the national linked application process through to matching for F1 location.

All applicants are matched to a fixed 2-year programme. Linked applicants may choose whether to keep their link through Group Allocation. If linking requires a change to group allocation, the lower of the two final Preferenced Informed Allocation (PIA) ranks is fixed, and the higher-ranked applicant is moved to one of their less preferred Groups.

Programmes are split into five Groups, one for each trust location. We will honour the link to the Group allocation stage only.

The Five Groups will be as below:

Group Name in alphabetical order	Location	Colour on Programme List
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust	Cornwall	Pink
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust- EAST	Exeter	Green
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust- WEST	North Devon	Blue
Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust	Torbay	Purple
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust	Plymouth	Orange

By opting to maintain your link to the Group allocation stage you will be able to opt to be in the same F1 location (unless the link is broken under certain circumstances referred to below**).

PLEASE NOTE There are a small number of programmes (Approximately 13 programmes out of 310) that have different locations from the F1 year for F2 year therefore we cannot guarantee you will be in the same trust locations for both F1 and F2

For indicative programmes please see the Two Year programme page.

Our programme list is reviewed annually and is therefore always subject to change.

** Links will be broken in the following circumstances:

1. Specialised Foundation Programmes (SFP)

A separate SFP Group is used for recruitment to Specialised Foundation Programmes (SFP). In addition to the five main FP Groups, there is one SFP Group. As there are so few SFP programmes and they are not all in the same location, we cannot honour linked applicants who are allocated to the SFP Group.

Both linked applicants can rank this Group and both may be allocated through PIA to a SFP programme but to be fair to other applicants we will not move linked applicants to the same trust location. Therefore, in this instance the LINK WILL BE BROKEN.

If one linked applicant is allocated to the SFP Group and another to one of the main FP groups the LINK WILL BE BROKEN.

2. National Oversubscription of the Foundation programme

If the Foundation Programme is nationally oversubscribed and one linked applicant is allocated to a Placeholder Group by the PIA algorithm, the LINK WILL BE BROKEN. We cannot guarantee that both applicants will be in the same location for F1 or F2. All Placeholder applicants are treated equally, and no priority is given to linked applicants.

Full Linked Applicant Policy.

1. As with all applicants, linked applicants must be prepared to accept a post in any provider/location within the South West Peninsula (Exeter, North Devon, Torbay, Plymouth, and Truro).

2. Linked applicants will normally be placed in the same F1 location as their linked partner unless the link is broken **.

3. Before Group matching, linked applicants must confirm whether they want their link to continue to the Group match stage.

4. Each applicant must complete and submit a Linked Application Declaration Form online. Each person in the applicant pair will receive an email with a link to the form. Both submitted forms must match: both applicants must either choose to remain linked or both choose to break the link at the Group match stage.

5. The match to Group will initially be run as if there are no linked applicants to consider.

6. The results of the match will then be reviewed to consider whether each linked applicant pair (starting with the pair with the highest combined PIA rank) have been allocated to the same Group. If the result matches both applicants to the same group, the match to post will be left unaltered.

7. If the result does not match both linked applicants to the same Group, the match for the lower PIA ranked applicant will be fixed and the higher PIA ranked applicant will be moved down their list of preferred Groups to the lower PIA ranked applicants allocated Group. This will then be fixed.

8. While the process will confirm a 2-year programme for each person it will not guarantee they will be in the same F2 location. Once allocated to a Group both linked applicants will be allocated through PIA to a programme within that Group based on their individual PIA ranking. PLEASE NOTE a small number of programmes (approximately 13 out of 310) have a different location for F2, so linked applicants may be in different locations in F2. This cannot be changed once allocated except through the F2 swaps process. However, an F2 swap cannot be guaranteed.

9. Applicants who have applied to the school as linked applicants will not be able to remain linked should they want to apply to swap rotations or jobs during the swaps process offered later in the year to all F1 Doctors.

10. THERE IS NO F1 PROGRAMME SWAPS PROCESS

11. No special circumstances can be considered during this process and there is no appeals process.

12. ** If the Foundation Programme is nationally oversubscribed and one linked applicant is allocated to a Placeholder Group by the PIA algorithm, the LINK WILL BE BROKEN and we cannot guarantee that both applicants will be in the same location for F1 or F2. All Placeholder applicants are treated equally, and no priority is given to linked applicants.

13. ** In addition to the five main FP Groups, there is an SFP Group to support recruitment to Specialised Foundation Programmes (SFP). Because there are few SFP programmes and they are not all in the same location, we cannot honour linked applicants who are allocated to the SFP Group.

If one linked applicant is allocated to the SFP Group and another to one of the main FP groups the LINK WILL BE BROKEN.