Foundation Doctor's 2023 Guide to Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland (LNR)

Updated for 2023 Applicants

Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland (LNR) is part of Health Education East Midlands and covers the East Midlands from Northampton up through Kettering to Leicester. Its teaching hospitals include Leicester General Hospital (regional centre for renal medicine & urology), Leicester Royal Infirmary (maternity & paediatrics speciality centre) and Glenfield Hospital (regional unit for cardiac & respiratory medicine & large research unit).

In terms of location, you'll get to experience a mixture of rural, suburban and urban environments during your hospital placements. Northamptonshire is also only 46 minutes away from London.

Sport fans will enjoy the fact that Premiership Football and Rugby matches are at your doorstep. Whilst music lovers will get to experience some of the country's leading venues. You'll also find the large Diwali and Caribbean Festivals taking place in the region. If you love the great outdoors, then there's also something for you here; cycle around Rutland Water, or wander the Northamptonshire canals for amazing scenic views.

Messly wants to help doctors make evidence-based decisions about their careers. We’ve put together a short guide to the LNR Foundation School to help you rank your rotation programmes. Below is a snapshot of hospital ratings and reviews from the Messly community of doctors together with information about the geography of the region.

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Join The Facebook Group

You can Join the LNR Foundation School page here, plus the group for all UKFP 2023 trainee's here

Foundation Schools Statistics

2022 F1 Places: 177
2022 F1 Applicants: 100
2022 Competition Ratio: 0.56

2021 F1 Places: 158
2021 F1 Applicants: 87
2021 Competition Ratio: 0.55

Below is an interactive bar chart displaying the competition ratios, lowest entry scores, and the number of posts over the past 5 years.
Please note that the 2022 data for lowest entry score is not yet available, we will update this graph when it is.

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How Does LNR Compare To Other Foundation Schools?

Check out our article "What are the most competitive foundations schools?" for a full breakdown.

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Hospitals, Rotation Scores, CQC Ratings

In the chart below you'll find a list of hospitals attached to the LNR Foundation School, and an average of their Rotation Scores from Messly’s Training Navigator. Each rotation is given a score out of 100, which is based on a weighted average of ratings given by Foundation Trainees in the 2022 GMC NTS. The national average Rotation Score is 62 for reference.

Colours correspond to the latest CQC rating of that hospital.

Disclaimer: Please note that hospitals are unscored when there are insufficient responses by Foundation Trainees to the GMC’s NTS survey.

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Need Help Ranking Your Foundation Programmes?

Rank your Foundation Programme rotations with confidence with Messly’s Training Navigator. See how rotations are rated by last year’s foundation trainees to make smarter decisions about where you’ll spend your Foundation Training.

You can use it to answer questions like:‍

👉  Which are the best-rated and worst-rated rotations in my Foundation School?
👉  How do the rotations compare for Workload, Learning and Satisfaction?
👉  Which is the best hospital for my favourite specialties?
👉  Within a hospital, which rotations are best-rated?

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A Doctor’s View

“LNR is a small area in the East Midlands which obviously has its advantages and disadvantages. Advantages being you’re in the middle of the country so can get around easily. Trains to London take 1 hour to 90 minutes, with a direct route to London airport. There are plenty of fields, countryside and nice outdoor spaces nearby too. Some of the disadvantages are that you’re in the middle of the country. There isn’t that much of an urban scene in LNR. That said, all the junior doctors are in the same boat, so there is a real feeling of camaraderie and almost a ‘let’s make the most of this’ attitude, meaning you can always find something to do.

LNR imports Doctors from other areas, which means even with an average (or even low) score you stand a good chance of getting your top choices of jobs as the area is frequently undersubscribed. Also, LNR ensures everyone spends at least one year in Leicester, and the vast majority also spend time in DGHs such as Kettering and Northampton. There was a phrase in LNR that “if you can be an F1 in Kettering, you can be an F1 anywhere” and that’s probably phasing out now since the DGHs are getting electronic prescribing and trying to become more paper-free. But for the moment you still have to handwrite blood bottles and forms.

The local district hospitals are certainly very friendly. You mix regularly with your colleagues and seniors, which is extremely useful, welcoming and endearing. Most people absolutely love working at the DGHs even though they offer some challenges.

Fun fact: Leicester Royal Infirmary’s A&E is apparently the busiest in Europe. The specialities in Leicester are spread out across the hospitals e.g. Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary at one, Cardiology at another. This can make for interesting referrals, but ensures you learn a decent grasp of the specialities, no matter where you’re working.

I chose LNR strategically to get my top choice tracks, and it’s the best decision I’ve made. Definitely worth considering!”

Emily Sanders, Foundation Year 1 at Kettering General Hospital

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