A “failure to plan” has caused a shortfall in foundation year places in Scotland, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and health spokesperson Jackie Baillie has said.
She described the Scottish National Party-led government’s healthcare workforce planning as “short-sighted” after it was unable to place all foundation training year applicants for the upcoming 2025-26 year.
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) confirmed to C+D this week (February 24) it has had 277 applicants for 220 foundation training year places for 2025-26, after previously having 270 applicants for 220 available places for 2024-25.
Read more: NHSE announces 29% increase in pharmacist training places by 2028/29
Applicants have to go through the new National Recruitment Scheme, called Oriel, in order to be placed with a provider.
MPharm student Abbie Cockburn told C+D she felt “deflated” after she received a letter from NES on January 14 saying she did not have a foundation training year place, describing it as “the most stressful year of my life”.
“I’ve spent four years studying for a degree, I’ve never failed an exam, and I could potentially graduate with distinction, but I don’t have a training place to progress in my career.
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“I just don’t understand why this has happened. The government has paid for my tuition but rather than paying for my training year, which would allow me to contribute back into my community and pay back into the system, they are telling me to go down to England,” she said.
Cockburn’s manager from her part-time pharmacy job had requested her for the training year after good performance.
“There is always a need for pharmacists, especially ones who can prescribe, but I’m not getting the opportunity to go through my foundation training year to fulfil that need,” she said.
Reapply
C+D has seen the letter sent by NES to students who don’t have a place, and as well as suggesting the students apply to the NHS England Foundation Training scheme, it also said they could reapply to the National Recruitment Scheme later this year for the 2026-27 scheme.
“Somebody’s taken their eye off the ball,” said Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) Scotland’s head of policy Maurice Hickey.
Read more: Trainees hit out: Reports of employers backtracking on Oriel placement terms
He told C+D that previously there had been enough places for students applying to Scotland’s foundation training year.
He said the options given to students were “not ideal” and that students had contacted the PDA with concerns about not getting the places they were expecting.
Hickey expects the shortfall will “hit the community pharmacy sector” hardest, as the “bulk of non-government funded places” were in community pharmacy.
Betrayal
Baillie for 200 said two students had contacted her about not being able to get onto the foundation training year, and it’s left them feeling “dismayed” about their prospects.
She said it’s “utterly absurd” that Scotland is “paying to train pharmacists only to send them to work elsewhere”
“Scottish students are spending years studying and Scottish taxpayers are funding it only to be told there are no jobs here for them.
Read more: Oriel to become only route to HEE-funded foundation trainees
“This is a betrayal of our hard-working NHS staff but also of taxpayers and patients who can rightly ask how squandering our potential in this way benefits Scotland,” Baillie said.
NES said the 220 places it had funded had increased by 29% since 2017, when only 170 places were funded.
It said it is “working with partners to explore ways of accommodating the increase in demand for foundation training year positions”.
Read more: CCA urges NHSE to publish full list of DPPs amid ‘risk’ to trainee placements
Scottish minister for public health Jenni Minto wrote to Baillie this week (February 24) saying she was “sorry to hear that there are pharmacy students who may be unable to undertake their Foundation Training Year (FTY) in Scotland, and that their only option to pursue a training position in 2025-26 is to apply for a place in England.
“NES has explored and successfully secured an opportunity with NHS England to allow these trainees to transfer into the England/Wales recruitment process, although I acknowledge that individual circumstances, such as caring responsibilities, may prevent trainees from leaving Scotland.
“You have asked specifically whether the Scottish Government will provide the funding required to allow these students to undertake their FTY in Scotland, however there is no additional funding available at this stage.”
Complexities
A spokesperson for the Scottish government said up until this year, places offered have provided “sufficient training positions for the demand.
“We are aware of the recent increase in undergraduate pharmacy students and are working with partners to explore what can be done to try and accommodate this increase.
Read more: The new trainee pharmacists arrangement: What could this mean for the future?
“However, there are several complexities that need to be resolved such as the allocation of trainees to training providers to meet the requirements of the pharmacy regulator.
“The chief pharmaceutical officer has established a national pharmacy workforce forum which will provide recommendations on the pharmacy workforce, including foundation training year places.”
