This page is a guide for pharmacy students and trainee pharmacist applicants on how to apply for a foundation training placement in England, Scotland or Wales using Oriel.

Scottish applicants are now included in the Oriel system. This means that all applicants can use the system to apply for placements in England, Wales or Scotland. The two systems have tried wherever possible to synchronise the opening and close dates of the various parts of the Oriel process.

If you want to apply for a placement in Scotland, and in England and Wales, you will have to put in two separate application forms. One for Scotland, and one for England and Wales. You will  also have to complete two preferencing lists, however you will only need to do one SJT and one numeracy test.

Contents

• About Oriel
• Eligibility criteria
• Application submission deadline
• Programme types and preferences
• Selection process
• Requesting adjustments
• Receiving an offer
• Applying for a foundation placement without using Oriel
• Other useful information and support

About Oriel

Oriel is a portal used for the recruitment of a variety of healthcare professions. All pharmacy hospital foundation placements will be advertised via Oriel, and some, but not all community foundation placements up to the 2024/25 training year. Students will be able to find community placements without Oriel in England, but should note that all available placements, no matter the sector, for Wales and Scotland will be advertised by Oriel alone. Please note, from the 2025 training year all new foundation training placements in England, Wales, and Scotland will be recruited through Oriel.

Oriel handbook

The NHS has produced a handbook containing guidance to help applicants to submit a successful application. This covers areas including how to access Oriel and what information applicants will need to support their application.

The  latest version of the handbook for England and Wales, or for Scotland, can be downloaded from the resource bank section of the Oriel website.

Visit the Oriel Website

Eligibility criteria for applying via Oriel

The following groups are eligible to apply for foundation placements via Oriel:-

• All current third-year UK MPharm undergraduates, any current third-year UK MPharm student who has not consented for their School of Pharmacy to provide their details as requested by the PNRO will not be eligible to apply
• UK MPharm graduates
• Current Overseas Pharmacists Assessment Programme (OSPAP) students
• OSPAP graduates
• Bradford sandwich students.

Bradford sandwich students should note that they will apply to Oriel via their own vacancy offering, which is separate to the national vacancy offering. Guidance will be provided to these students via Bradford University. For further information please contact fls-placements@bradford.ac.uk 

The following groups are not eligible to apply for foundation placements via Oriel:-

• EEA pharmacists requiring adaptation training
• applicants who have failed the registration assessment and are waiting to sit their second or third attempt
• applicants who have already banked some training with the GPhC.

Application submission deadline

Late applications will not be accepted. Try to ensure that you submit your form in plenty of time. Leaving it until the very last minute is not a good idea.

Once the applications window has closed, long-listing by Oriel will begin. This will include checks to verify the eligibility of applicants. Some applicants may be required to provide additional information and applicants are advised to answer any such queries promptly to avoid having their application withdrawn from the recruitment process. You should note that potential employers have no input in the long-listing process. Employers will only be notified about potential candidates at the end of the Oriel recruitment process (see below under, What happens when an offer has been accepted section).

For the recruitment timeline for England and Wales including application deadlines see here. For Scotland see here.

Programme types and preferences

Types of programmes

Information about the various programmes on offer will be available to view from the point of registration. You should register as soon as possible to allow time to make decisions about which programmes to apply for. Applicants will only need to submit one form, no matter how many programs they opt for. Applicants who apply for a placement in Scotland, and England and Wales will need to submit two forms.

Before starting an application, candidates are advised to read the person specification, job description, and professional attributes framework guidance.

Person specification, job description, and professional attributes framework information

Selecting preferences

You will not be asked to express your preferences from the programmes advertised when you first submit your application form. You will need to complete your preferencing during the preferencing window.

Please note, a programme is not necessarily an individual job offer, a programme can be a number of positions being offered by one employer. For example, a large multiple could have a programme containing multiple placements. You will not be asked to express a preference for one individual role from within a programme.

A number of filters are available to help applicants to choose their preferences. These include:-

• size of organisation (community only)
• specialty (hospital only)
• the number of placements available within a programme
• the country/area in which the program is based
• name of training provider
• international students who are planning to apply for a skilled worker visa will need to choose employers who have SWV (skilled worker visa) within their programme preference code
• international students who are planning to apply for a graduate visa can apply for all jobs, they will not need a sponsor.

There are three preference levels:-

• preference – you should mark programmes you would be happy to accept and rank all preferences starting with number 1 for most preferred
• no preference– all programmes are listed in this way initially. If you choose to mark a programme as no preference it will mean that you are happy to take an offer from this programme if your initial preferences are not successful
• not wanted – you should select this option for any programmes you would not be willing to accept under any circumstances

You can select the preference option for as many programmes as you wish. You can change your preferences as often as needed during the preferencing window.

Bulk preferencing

You will be able to move programmes in bulk from within the preferencing section of the application. This will be useful if you know that there are certain types of programmes that you are not interested in. For example, if you are only interested in hospital placements you can use the filtering tool to show all community programmes and then bulk preference them in the ‘not wanted’ category.

Enhanced preferencing

Enhanced preferencing comes into effect after offers have been made. It is designed to provide an opportunity for some applicants to change their preferencing at a very late stage.

If you have received and accepted an offer you will be able to select upgrade options for programmes that are ranked both higher and lower in your preferencing table.

Applicants who have not received an offer will be able to amend their preferences up until the final round of offers. This will include re-ranking programmes from their ‘preferenced’ category and/or moving preferences from within the ‘no preference’ and ‘not wanted’ categories.

Enhanced preferencing will take place between offer rounds and you will be informed via Oriel when this service is available.

Specifying a preferred location

You will only be able to specify a particular geographical area under the following circumstances:-

• if you are the primary carer for a disabled person
• if you have a medical condition or disability for which ongoing treatment/follow up will be needed in the specified location as an absolute requirement. So if, for example, the treatment you need is readily available elsewhere in the country the request for a specific location will not be considered.

Applicants with special circumstances must provide supporting evidence. Parental responsibilities will not be taken into consideration when requesting a specific location.

There are a number of filters available when selecting preferences that will allow you to narrow their geographical area if needed

For further information, see the Foundation pharmacy recruitment handbook.