Oriel Pharmacy Foundation Training: Complete Guide

Advice & Insight From Pre-Registration Recruitment Exam Specialists

In order to receive a placement for Foundation Training for Pharmacy in the UK, you will need to apply through Oriel. Here, we will through some of the most important parts of the process, and core knowledge. You can find more information on each step, as well as on other parts of the application, elsewhere in this section of our site.

UK Pharmacy Foundation Training Programs: Overview

First, let’s consider what you are actually applying for. There are a number of different pharmacy Foundation Training programs available to trainee pharmacists in the UK, each of which must be accredited by the GPhC, and must include a minimum of 6 months in a ‘patient facing setting.’ All last for exactly one year. Employers include community pharmacy, general practice, health and justice, and secondary care. Community pharmacy can include large chains and single, independent pharmacies. Secondary care employers can be anything from large hospitals to smaller local hospitals, or specialist units. Additionally, you should be aware of multi sector programs. These offer two or more placements, each 12 weeks or longer – and the overall program must include a minimum of 26 weeks in a patient facing pharmacy sector. This program type is becoming increasingly popular with applicants, and as such programs are increasingly adopting it in tandem.

Oriel Pharmacy 2023 Recruitment Timeline

Applications open at the end of the first week of June, although you should be ready beforehand. Applications close at the end of the third week. You must then be aware of the preferencing window, which opens at the end of July, and is the the time in which you are able to rank programs. The invitation for the SJT and Numeracy Test will be sent between the beginning and middle of August, and the test itself will be held in the last week of September or first week of October. The preference window then closes at the end of October. Any unsuccessful applicants are alerted at the end of the first week of November, and offers are sent a couple of days later. The deadline for offers held is around a week before the end of November, and the deadline for upgrade offers is the end of November. Programs will then commence in July or August of 2024.

Oriel Pharmacy 2023 Application Process & Overview

You must be aware of how the process works. First, know that all applications are made via the Oriel recruitment portal, and use the specific application form. In order to apply, you must register on the Oriel system, although registration is not the same as applying – it is just the first step in the process. The application form is divided into the following sections:

Oriel Application Section 1: Personal Information

The first part of the application is used to identify you and check who you are for employment purposes. You will be required to fill out your personal details, e.g. name, address, telephone number, etc. You will also need to state what type of application you are – you can find more information on the different types of application elsewhere on our site.

Oriel Application Section 2: Eligibility

Here you must input the following information:
– Professional registration
– Language Requirements – you must input details of your International English Testing System (IELTS) or Occupational English Test (OET) score if your primary qualification was not in English.
– Right to work in the UK – you must indicate your nationality and answer the relevant questions around your right to work in the UK.

Oriel Application Section 3: Fitness to Practise

Here you will need to provide information on any criminal charges or other relevant information that could impact your fitness to practise. If you declare any concerns, offers made will be conditional.

Oriel Application Section 4: References

You will need to provide the details for two referees. One of these has to be academic, and the other can be either an employment referee or a character referee – if you have a previous employment record you should provide an employment rather than character reference.

Oriel Application Section 5: Competences

Here, you will need to provide information on your pharmacy qualification, as well as when you achieved it – if you have not yet completed it, you must enter the anticipated date. If you are undertaking, or have completed, an OSPAP qualification, then you will need to enter the name of the institution at which you are undertaking the qualification, and date of achievement.

Oriel Application Section 6: Employment

Here, you must enter any employment details that you have had up to the start date of the programme. You may have no relevant employment history if you are still a student.

Oriel Application Section 7: Equality

This section covers equal opportunities information, which is required by the health service. Whilst all fields are mandatory, you can select the option ‘I do not wish to disclose’. This information will not be used to assess your application.

Oriel Application Section 8: Declaration

In this final section, you will need to confirm that you have read and understood a number of declarations. You will not be able to submit your application until all sections of the application form have been completed, including the declarations.

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Oriel Pharmacy: Viewing Programs, Preferencing Programs & The Preferencing Window

First,before you can apply to programs, you’ll need to see which programs interest you. From the end of the first week of June, you can see all the Foundation Training programmes being recruited for through the England and Wales National Recruitment Scheme. Make sure that you look at them as early as you can. You can filter the programs through a variety of different factors, including what they’re recruiting for, the employer type, the specialty, whether they offer a skilled worker visa, the region, location, and the number of placements. Next, you need to preference programs.

Preferencing is the process whereby you rank the programs that you are interested in, using Oriel. Typically, you should preference a significant number of different programs – in general, applicants who do not receive a place have failed simply because they did not preference enough programmes, or they only preferenced very popular programs. There are a lot of factors to consider when preferencing a program, and you should ensure that you make an informed decision. In general, it has been found that hospital and multi-sector placements places were very competitive, as shown by the high fill rate.

When you first look at the preferencing section of your application, all the programmes listed will sit within the No Preference category – you must then move them into either ‘not wanted’ or ‘preference’. You will then rank the programs within ‘preference.’

During the preferencing window, you need to ‘preference’ all the Foundation Training programmes that you are willing to accept. You must also be aware of enhanced preferencing, which provides an opportunity for applicants to change their preferences at a late stage. If you have been accepted into a program, you can select upgrade options, which could be programs that were originally ranked higher, or those that were ranked lower (if you have changed their mind).