Midlands Deanery FY2 Swaps Policy

Midlands Deanery FY2 Swaps Policy

Midlands Deanery FY2 Swaps Policy

FY2 Placements between August 2027 - August 2028

This policy covers both East and West Midlands Foundation Resident Doctors (FRDs)

The Midlands Deanery recognises that over the course of their programme, FRDs may wish for changes in their allocated specialties. We are therefore happy to facilitate swaps of a doctor’s allocated F2 year, where possible, according to the following policy.

Please be aware that this policy only covers the FY2 swap request process; it does not cover placement changes that may be required due to Trust service provision, ARCP outcomes, time out of programme, Working Percentage changes or statutory health adjustments.

Requesting an FY2 swap is an opt-in, multi-stage process; the link to the initial opt-in MS form will be live between 4th November 2026 and will close on 25th November 2026 at 16:00. All swap applications will be assessed by a panel chaired by the FSD and the outcome communicated to residents by early March 2027 (exact date TBC).

High level overview

  1. Option to submit an expression of interest, with the intention that all submissions within a school will be shared exclusively within that school, and only to those who have also submitted an expression of interest.
  2. Expression of interest details shared to relevant fellow submitters.
  3. Swap request window opens. This year, the process is not restricted to those who submitted an initial expression of interest, but be aware that should you  not have submitted an expression of interest no information about expressions of interest or the rotations will be shared with you. It will be expected that if you wish to submit a proposed swap you will need to arrange that yourself with other fellow F2s

 

Timeline

  • Mid Oct 26 dissemination of policy via EMAIL and WEBSITE, and Opt-in link
  • Opt in Via MS Form open from 4th November 2026 to 25th November 2026 at 16:00
  • Swaps submission process, and swap Forms circulated school by school, week commencing 30th Nov 26
  • List of FRDs that Opted in circulated to other Opted in FRDs school by school, week commencing 30th Nov 26
  • Swaps submissions open week commencing 30th Nov 26 to 27th January 2027 at 16:00 (this year this step is not limited to those who Opted-in at step 1)
  • Early March 2026 – Participants informed of Outcomes (exact date TBC).

 

 

Midlands FY2 Swaps Policy

  1. Current Foundation doctors (Excluding those appointed to rotations via FPP, SFP Pathway 1, and Military FRDs) will be given the opportunity to apply for a Foundation Year 2 rotation swap (between August 2027 - August 2028).
  2. You must be on track to undertake the placement as an FY2 to be eligible for a swap.
  3. You must have checked your placement details on TSS.
  4. Interested FRDs can complete the MS form, stating their intention to participate in the swap process. You do not need to apply using the email address we have recorded for you on TIS (this will be the e-mail address this has been sent to), but if the email is different, we will contact you to confirm you made the submission.
    1. If you need to update your email address, please do it via TSS or by contacting us through https://tis-support.hee.nhs.uk/about-tis/trainee-information-system-self-service/
  5. Once the expressions of interest window has closed, the information of interested FRDs (Name, Email, Rotations) will be shared with everyone participating in that school.
  6. This year, FRDs that do not sign up through the expression of interest can still partake in the swap submission window, but they will need to find swap partners themselves. (it is still mandated that you have checked your details on TSS to request a swap)
  7. Only one swap is allowed per FRD, and it can be either:
    1. Swapping 1 placement: This can only be within the original F2 trust, and must be for the same calendar period.
      1. West Midlands Central – UHB, swaps that would involve the FRD’s splitting their year between the QE site, and other hospital sites are unlikely to be supported,
    2. Swapping the entire F2 year: This can be either within the current F2 Trust or to a different Trust (but within the same school).
      1. No three-way swaps or above will be considered. Foundation Resident Doctors can only directly swap with one other FRD. Submitting multiple requests with different FRDs means you are denying yourselves the opportunity to swap
  8. There is no opportunity to swap into a vacant posts; swaps must be agreed between two eligible FRDs.
  9. If you are an LTFT FRD, please note you will only be able to swap with another LTFT FRD.
  10. Any programmes allocated must be compliant with the usual rules governing a Foundation training programme. Balanced 2-year programmes normally have the following elements/structure:
    1. Not contain any Specialty repeats (or subspecialty in the case of Medical and Surgical posts)
    2. Have a balanced mix of medical and surgical posts (one of each per year).
    3. Ideally it should contain one community placement if that school can facilitate. (GP, Psychiatry, GUM, Palliative Medicine in hospice, Occupational Medicine, or Public Health)
      1. An FRD’s rotation that did not include community, could swap with an FRD that contained community, but as a result one FRD should not have two community placements while the other has none.
  11. There is a separate application form for each Foundation School; applicants must only fill out the application form for the Foundation School their F2 year will take place under.
    1. FRDs wishing to change Foundation Schools should refer to the IFST process on the UKFPO website: Inter-foundation School Transfer Process - UK Foundation Programme
  12.  Late applications will not be considered as part of this window, nor will any requests to update specialty preferences after the deadline.
  13.  In the case of multiple submissions (of the same pair of FRDs), only the last submission will be considered, and previous ones will be deleted.
  14.  Any FRD withdrawing their application within the window will result in their swap being cancelled. The other FRD is welcome to seek a different swap with another FRD as long as this occurs before the window closes.
    1. In the interests of fairness, anyone withdrawing their application once the window has closed will result in that whole swap being cancelled.

 

Expressions of Interest Opt-in Process

The F2 swaps Expressions of Interest process will be opt-in to ensure we only share the data of FRDs who have consented. An email to all eligible FRDs (excluding those appointed via the Priority programme, SFP Pathway 1 and the military FRDs) will be sent asking them to opt-in prior to the application window opening.

Submissions are done via the MS Form, linked here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/3t8fa4z6p2

The submission form will ask for certain key data (Date of Birth, and Current Postcode.) so we can confirm you have made the submission; this will not be shared.

It is a mandatory part of the swap process that you check your placements on TSS so that you can see the information that will be shared about your rotations and can check any perceived errors before that point.

  1. If you opt in, your name, email address, and your allocated F2 programme will be shared with all other participants in your Foundation School.
  2. This means we will provide you a list of only those FRDs and their F2 programmes who have opted in, to assist you. Please note that it is your responsibility to discuss, find a swap partner and apply for a swap.
  3. Please only submit your swap request form via the submission process once both F1s have agreed to the swap. This will ensure only the final version is submitted to the panel. (the submission process will be shared along with copies of the swap request form, and examples).

Any suspicion of coercion will result in the swap being rejected.

 

Please submit any queries about this using the following link https://nhs-help.freshdesk.com/support/home

 

Further information about signing up and TSS is available here: https://tis-support.hee.nhs.uk/trainees/