Ahead of your ARCP the Training Management team will send you a request to submit an absence declaration via Questback which will be sent to you in Spring.

The maximum permitted absence from training, other than annual leave, is 20 days (when the doctor would normally be at work) within each 12-month (whole-time equivalent (WTE)) period of the Foundation Programme. 

Where a foundation doctors absence goes above 20 days, this will trigger a review of whether they need to have an extra period of training (see GMC position statement).

Each foundation doctor much undertake a minimum of 60 hours learning. The 60 hours can consist of core learning alone or combined with non-core learning

Core Learning (mandatory minimum 30 hours)

Must be a minimum of 30 hours or can consist of the total 60 hours required. You are required to demonstrate attendance at formal Foundation Delivered Educational Programme core learning, ideally this will be face-to-face however some may be delivered via a platform such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

Non-Core Learning (not mandatory maximum 30 hours)

Can count towards the total of 60 hours required, but only up to a maximum of 30 hours of non-core learning. Non-core learning can be replaced with core learning.

Non-core learning should not include statutory or mandatory training delivered by your employer, this is training your health board requires you to do as part of your employment and may vary between health boards.  

ILS/ALS does not count for either core or non-core learning.

For further information for contacts and teaching please see Foundation Teaching (F1 and F2)

e-learning   

There are a number E-learning modules which are relevant to your training:

• E-Learning for Health (e-Lfh) you will have received a login to access this resource, there is a foundation section, and the content has been developed to complement your foundation learning, the medical knowledge modules are very good and you can record these as non-core learning.  (note - some of the induction modules can be England-focused as it has been developed by NHSE, and the statutory/mandatory induction modules on e-LfH are not suitable for your training in Scotland. They are designed for English Trusts and Foundation doctors in England)
• SCRIPT e-learning can be used to help prepare candidates for PSA please please see the list of helpful SCRIPT modules here to help you prepare
• The NES Foundation School Trainee Teaching Repository is one of many resources you can use during your foundation training, for further information please access here.

It is important you attend the Delivered Educational Programme preferentially and use the modules to ‘top up’ or to explore your interests. We would prefer you to be taught in the workplace during working hours rather than do this in your own time.

If you perceive you will have difficulties in meeting the minimum of 60 hours, please raise this with your Foundation Programme Director immediately.

Recording your Learning and Personal Learning Log (PLL)

All trainees should record their attendance at formal foundation delivered education programme, provided to support the curriculum (core learning), and also record any non-core learning you attended either in the LEP or other venues or online.

When you attend a teaching session, you should record this in your Turas Training Portfolio under the Mandatory Learning Log. A drop down will appear once you open the log, please record all teaching through your Turas Training Portfolio and use the record of learning form for both core and non-core learning.

Your FPD will only be able to see the learning log if you record it this way.

For the foundation doctors who do not meet the minimum hours of delivered education or complete the minimum hours of non-core learning could potentially receive an ARCP Outcome 5, in the first instance. 

You may be asked to do further learning following the Outcome 5, this will be at the discretion of the ARCP panel and dependent on the extent of the deficit, the reasons for missed teaching and the overall quality of evidence in the Turas Training Portfolio. 

You must complete your PLL and demonstrate that you have completed a minimum of 60 hours of teaching attendance.  The Foundation Programme curriculum builds on undergraduate learning and is wide ranging to ensure the foundation years prepare doctors for future healthcare needs, although no programme of learning can cover the whole range of medical practice and knowledge that continues to develop.

The Foundation Programme Curriculum can be found on the UKFPO website. 

You must ensure that you have provided a range of evidence and that you have covered the F1 curriculum, which contains 13 Foundation Professional Capabilities (FPC) with a variable number of behaviours in each section. 

The portfolio will allow up to 10 pieces of evidence per FPC and each piece of evidence can be linked up to 3 times.

In the portfolio each FPC can be opened to show suggested behaviours to help you with evidence linking. 

You are expected to provide a range of SLEs covering physical health, mental health and social health.

You must provide specific evidence for FPC2: Clinical Prioritisation: recognise and, where appropriate, initiate urgent treatment of deterioration in physical and mental health. 

You are expected to demonstrate these competencies through simulation.

We also offer ILS courses that will provide you with the evidence.

If you are not booked on a course, please contact your local administrator for advice contact information can be found here.

Higher Level Outcome (HLO)

There are 3 Higher Level Outcomes (HLOs) - these are demonstrated by behaviours in the training programme and workplace in line with the 13 Foundation Professional Capabilities (FPCs).  Further information can be found on the UKFPO Website under Curriculum Resource.

Summary Narrative

The rationale behind the Summary Narrative is that the Foundation doctor will review their learning progress and ensure that they have the required range of evidence.

As a consequence of the reduced burden of assessments and having removed the minimum numbers of SLEs the Foundation doctor and their supervisors will need to be confident that the Higher Learning Outcomes (HLOs) have been met.

The summary narrative allows the Foundation doctor to write a supporting piece that will explain to the Educational Supervisor why they have selected the evidence they have for sign off. It will allow your Educational Supervisor to understand the rationale for the evidence provided. Each HLO will require a 300-word maximum piece that explains the rationale for the selection of the evidence provided.

Ideally, the Foundation doctor should start writing each summary narrative towards the end of post 1 to help critically appraise progress and help inform the PDP for the subsequent posts. The ES will be able to review this progress.

The content of the summary narrative is not summative (i.e. pass/fail) however having 3 completed summary narratives in place by ARCP will be mandatory.

Examples of summary narratives listed below:

The summary narrative YouTube video
What is the Summary Narrative
Example 1 – Summary narrative for HLO 1
Example 2 – Summary narrative for HLO 1

Reflection

You should complete reflections throughout the year. There is no minimum, but we expect to see several pieces of reflection in the Portfolio in addition to the completion of your Summary Narrative. For further information on Reflection can be found here

Foundation doctors should have a Personal Development Plan (PDP) for each placement within the training year.

The PDP should set out the specific aims and learning objectives and be based on the requirements for satisfactory completion of F1 foundation programme.

At the beginning of each placement the foundation doctor should agree their PDP with their supervisor and record it in the Turas Training Portfolio. 

The PDP should form the basis of all appraisal discussions.

Once objectives have been achieved, they can be ticked off. These will remain on the PDP page to allow you to reflect on your achievements throughout the training year.

PDPs can be used for learning objectives related to your curriculum outcomes or career management goals, research goals, etc.

You should provide evidence that you have taken an active part in processes to improve the quality of care (FPC9).

There is no recommendation on number of Quality Assurance / Quality Improvements projects to be done in Foundation.

You can evidence Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement by attending teaching, working on modules, taking part in surveys etc.

In your Turas Training Portfolio, you can add a new record form “You have actively participated in a QI (e.g. Audit, SEA, etc) and would like to add the evidence to your Portfolio”.

Your Foundation Programme Director (FPD) will complete an end of year report after the ARCP evidence submission date and ahead of your ARCP. 

The report should draw upon all required ARCP evidence and will include the review of CS/ES reports

For your ARCP you will need: 

• 3 x satisfactory clinical supervisor reports, plus

• 3 x satisfactory educational supervisor reports (these can be combined ES/CS reports)

If any of the reports are not satisfactory your FPD will make a decision at your ARCP. 

The UKFPO guidance requires 3 CS reports but only 2 ES reports as the ES completes the end of year report instead of a 3^rd report as it covers the entire year including post 3.  In England the ES remains constant for the whole year hence the discrepancy and in Scotland Foundation doctors normally have 3 CS and 3 ES.

If the Foundation doctor has not satisfactorily completed one placement but has been making good progress in other respects, it may still be appropriate to confirm that they have met the requirements for progression.

Guidance from the UKFPO about the importance of the PSG can be found here. 

The PSG is initiated by your supervisors and guidance can be found in the Turas Training Portfolio.

PSG will usually be completed in block 2, however your supervisor may wish to create this in block 1. 

This feedback is from senior staff members and provides you with detailed feedback and advice on your clinical skills and how you perform as a doctor.

It provides additional complementary information to the TAB, and you may find that it is feedback that you will want to have in your portfolio for interviews. In this form there is a section for you and the supervisor to record areas where you have demonstrated excellence i.e. a high-level piece of QI, a GREATIX, or anything else worthy of comment.

A minimum of 1 satisfactory PSG per training year.

Guidance about TAB can be found in your portfolio.

• You must have 1 satisfactory TAB during the training year from a suitable variety of assessors including at least 2 consultants or equivalent for each TAB
• This must include a TAB from your Educational Supervisor
• Both content and the correct number of contributors must be satisfactory

Where possible we would suggest you complete TAB in the first post of your training year. 

Your supervisor will review the TAB feedback at the end of your post and release the feedback to you. 

If the TAB is not satisfactory either due to insufficient numbers of respondents or areas for improvement identified. 

You will be asked to complete at least one further TAB to show improvement. 

You may then be asked to complete an additional TAB in the third block if necessary. 

A minimum of 1 satisfactory TAB per training year.

As a F1 you do not need to complete an annual SOAR declaration this is only applicable to F2 foundation doctors who hold full GMC registration.

The Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA) is a mandatory F1 ARCP requirement.

If you have successful passed the PSA within 18 months of starting F1 it remains valid.

If you have passed the PSA the Foundation School will acknowledge this in your Turas Training Portfolio and you will receive and automated email asking you to upload your valid PSA certificate, this must be upload to your portfolio during your first block. 

If you have not passed PSA at the start of F1 or passed more than 18 months prior to starting Foundation training, you will have opportunities to sit this during the year.  

Further information on PSA and dates including SCRIPT resource can be found here.

Details of the different types of SLEs can be found in your Turas Training Portfolio. 

SLEs are an interaction between a foundation doctor and a trainer which leads to immediate feedback and reflective learning. 

They are designed to help foundation doctors develop and improve their clinical and professional practice and to set targets for future achievements. 

It is accepted that in some posts SLEs will be more difficult to achieve.

There is no specific number of SLEs that need to be undertaken however you are required to provide enough evidence for each of the 13 FPCs and should use some SLEs for this purpose. 

At the start of your training year, you should start to record your evidence and do not leave it to your last block. 

You are required to evidence that the 13 Foundation Professional Capabilities (FPCs) have been met. This can be through a variety of SLEs e.g. Mini-CEX, DOPS, CBD, DCT. The 13 FPCs make up the 3 HLOs.

You can link up to 10 pieces of evidence to each FPC.

e-Learning for Health (e-LfH) has produced a module about SLEs which can be completed on the e-LfH website

End of Placement Report 

You should have an induction meeting with both the Clinical and Educational Supervisor for all placements. 

For the majority of posts your Clinical and Educational Supervisor will be the same person and therefore a combined induction form can be completed. 

You must have End of Placement review meetings with both the Clinical and Educational Supervisor for all placements.  All reports must be signed off and submitted ahead of your ARCP.

Ideally all reports should all be satisfactory. If any of the reports are not satisfactory your FPD will make a decision at your ARCP, this decision is at the discretion of your FPD as they will make an assessment of your overall progress throughout the training year.

General Meeting Form

Your supervisor may also complete a General Meeting Form for any meetings they have with you out with those described above. 

In blocks 1 and 2 you should complete the Scottish Trainee Survey (STS). 

In block 3 you should complete the GMC National Trainee Survey (NTS). 

These surveys can be recorded as participation under “Achievements" in your Turas Training Portfolio using the completion code or other relevant information.  

The Scotland Deanery takes the feedback it receives about your training posts very seriously, the comments you provide anonymously feed into our annual report and we use this data to make improvements to the training posts.

Portfolio

At your induction you should have received details on how to access and complete your Turas Training Portfolio 

Your Foundation Programme Director (FPD) and programme administrators can provide you with additional help. 

Please upload a photograph into your Turas Training Portfolio.

It is important you updated your email address to your nhs.scot email address as soon as possible to avoid missing out on important communications and your access to the NES Foundation School Teaching Repository.

The evidence to determine your progress is recorded in the Turas Training Portfolio and it is your responsibility to ensure that it is completed. 

The Portfolio also helps you keep track of your own progress and important certificates and achievements. 

Please see the short video which provides helpful tips on How to Build a Portfolio

Timeline

The Foundation School has created a timeline for completion of your portfolio throughout the training year which can be found here.