Allocation to UoA and the Matching Process
Upon allocation to the Scottish Foundation School (UoA), applicants are required to complete a two-stage matching process to ensure placement within a Group and Programme. Please note that the Oriel preferencing page is set to timeout after 59 minutes of inactivity. The UKFPO website provides additional details on Group and Programme preferencing If allocated to Scotland, you will be offered a 2-year Foundation Programme. It is important to read the regional information thoroughly.
All Foundation Schools in the UK will have a group in Oriel named 'Placeholder'. This group contain training programmes which are still being finalised. For further information, please refer to our Placeholder FAQs
Stage 1 - Group Matching
All applicants must rank all available Groups in Oriel according to their personal preference.
- Groups are 'clusters' of programmes located within a specific region.
- East (Groups beginning with E)
- North (Groups beginning with N)
- South-East (Groups beginning with S)
- West (Groups beginning with W)
You may rank Groups in any preferred order and are not required to group all selections from the same region together.
The match to group is determined by your PIA number and your saved preferences.
Stage 2 - Programme Matching
Once matched to a group, you must rank the individual Programmes (e.g. E01001, E01002) within your allocated Group.
Programmes consist of a sequence of posts forming the rotation of placements within the Group.
Allocation to an individual Programme is based on you PIA number and preferences.
Final Allocation and Swaps
- The Scottish Foundation School operates a strict NO swaps policy.
- All matches to Group and Programme are considered final once allocated.
Allocation to the Foundation School Unit of Application (UoA) is via Oriel using the Preference Informed Allocation (PIA).
After allocation to Scotland, applicants are required to preference groups then programmes. Applicants are matched to group and programme according to preference and PIA rank.
If you have been allocated to Scotland you will be matched to a Group and a Programme, you must remember to preference all available groups and programmes.
It is very important that you adhere to the deadlines and are aware of when you will receive information and when you must respond. Any rankings and submissions after the published deadlines will not be honoured.
There is no upgrade system for the Foundation Programme.
The Scottish Foundation School does not allow any 'swaps'.
- All of our programmes are balanced educationally and are monitored by Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland) as part of its quality management processes.
- Applicants should not be concerned if they do not secure exactly the Foundation Programme speciality of their choice. The placements in your Foundation Programme will not have a direct bearing on your progression to a specific specialty training programme. Foundation doctors should ensure that they can demonstrate commitment through other means, for example: Tasters.
This page was last updated on: 17.07.2026 at 14.11