Broadening the Foundation Programme report

Broadening the Foundation Programme report  Health Education England has published its Broadening the Foundation Programme report, which recommends doctors in training undertake a minimum of one community or integrated placement during their two year Foundation Programme. This is to ensure they receive a wider experience of working in community settings, such as general practice, community psychiatry or community paediatrics, palliative care and public health and obtain a broader understanding of community care and the whole patient journey.


The report was developed in response to the recommendations highlighted in the Secretary of State commissioned report Foundation for Excellence by Professor John Collins, which called for Foundation doctors to develop their capabilities across a range of settings, including the community and to training a flexible workforce that is capable of providing care across these settings over the course of their careers.

The two-year Foundation Programme is designed to give trainees broad general experience before choosing an area of medicine in which to specialise. HEE’s report recommends that services are re-configured within the Foundation Programme to create more experience in community-based settings to ensure that Foundation doctors are trained in a wider variety of community settings so that they are better equipped to provide safe, effective, integrated care for the whole patient, now and in the future.

Chris Welsh, Director of Education and Quality for HEE, said: “Changes are required in the current Foundation Programme to ensure that our newly qualified doctors can be trained so that they are better able to respond to future changes in the country’s health and social care system. There are opportunities for both services and doctors to become more patient-centred, more integrated in approach and more effective in meeting the needs of patients, both now and in the future.”

“Implementing the recommendations in this report will be challenging, however we’ve worked closely with our local education and training boards, royal colleges, trusts and partners to deliver these recommendations. We all agree that education and training must keep pace with changes in health and social care provision.”

HEE’s local education and training boards will now work to implement the recommendations within their areas.

View the report.

View more about the Broadening the Foundation Programme.