Foundation Doctor's 2023 Guide to West Midlands North

Updated for 2023 Applicants

West Midlands North Foundation School is part of Health Education England West Midlands. It stretches across Staffordshire, Shropshire, and the Black Country. The main tertiary centre in this region is University Hospitals of North Midlands, with certain sub-specialty referrals going outside the region to Birmingham.

The Foundation School also provides training for Keele, Birmingham and Leicester medical students. So you'll find plenty of teaching opportunities here to boost your portfolio, which will be helpful when applying to Core Training Programmes.

Most Foundation doctors choose to live near their attached hospital, with many choosing hospital accommodation (if available) due to the rural nature of the surrounding areas.

Commuting between the regions of the Foundation School can be a lengthy journey, however, there are good transport links, and it is possible. There are also excellent road and rail links to the major cities and sites such as shopping and nightlife (Birmingham, Stoke and Manchester) or the great outdoors in the shape of Cannock Chase, the Peak District, Lake District and North Wales.

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Join The Facebook Group

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

Foundation School Statistics

2022 F1 Places: 249
2022 F1 Applicants: 100
2022 Competition Ratio: 0.40

2021 F1 Places: 222
2021 F1 Applicants: 91
2021 Competition Ratio: 0.41

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 West Midlands North 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 West Midlands North 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

“For me, the big reason to moving back to this area was to be closer to family. However, being almost in Central England it’s a great place to be. Not only is there so much going on locally, but there are many transport links to other parts of the country.

I live in Birmingham and currently work in Wolverhampton. Living in Birmingham is great, it really is undergoing a social revolution. A new generation of bars, restaurants as well as other activities are popping up every week. One big highlight is Digbeth Dining Club! Within the deanery itself there is a lot of inter-mess socialising. We aim to hold an event together every couple of months – a great way to meet new people and have a great time!

In general I have found that I have been well supported at the hospitals I have worked at, everyone is happy to help and nobody ever feels alone.

Transport links are very good, not only are there motorway links to almost everywhere, but there is a great bus service, train service and in some areas – the tram!

West Midland’s North really is a great place to live and work!”

Navdeep Bhamra, Mess Champion, Foundation Year 2 at New Cross Hospital

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