The Academic Foundation Programme is a two-year generic clinical and academic training programme which forms a bridge between medical school and specialist or general practice training. King’s offers an Academic Foundation Programme for the South Thames Foundation School, providing opportunities to develop research, teaching and leadership/management skills alongside the core clinical competences.
The Academic Foundation Programme is intended for trainees who plan to go into academic medicine, as well as those who choose a different medical career.
There are 19 places comprising the following specialty-based academic programmes:
Successful applicants are recruited to a specific 4 month academic F2 post i.e. academic GUM. This post sits within a generic 2 year foundation programme with 5 other clinical placements, balanced to enable acquisition of foundation competences. Applicants should note that clinical placements are subject to change dependent on service need and provisional until confirmed by the employing Trust.
Each of the 19 specialty-based schemes offers core clinical and generic academic training. The programmes are based at Guy’s and St Thomas’ (GSTT) or King’s College Hospital (KCH) and KCL for 2 years. The F2 year comprises a 4-month clinical placement with a leading clinical academic firm, a 4-month high-quality dedicated academic placement, and a 4-month attachment in A&E or an Acute Medicine Admissions Unit (high intensity training in acute medicine) to enable the acquisition of core competencies.
Trainees are required to attend monthly academic training sessions which include interactive training across a range of generic research methodology areas and a keynote lecture.
The topics for the generic training build on each other through the two year programme. All trainees attend a full Good Clinical Practice training session during the programme.
Placements
Successful applicants are recruited to a specific 4 month academic F2 post i.e. academic GUM. This post sits within a generic 2 year foundation programme with 5 other clinical placements, balanced to enable acquisition of foundation competences. Applicants should note that clinical placements are subject to change dependent on service need and provisional until confirmed by the employing Trust.
If you are a KCL medical student thinking about applying to become an Academic Foundation Programme trainee, take a look at the resources available on the King's Health partners Learning Hub. Once you've logged in (using your King's username and password), search for the 'Academic Foundation Programme, King's Health Partners' resource.
If you have any questions please contact us at educationacademy@kcl.ac.uk.
King's College London and Partner Trusts
Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
The Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine is one of the largest and most successful centres for research and education in the UK and has unparalleled expertise in basic, translational and clinical research. Within the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, the GKT School of Medical Education is responsible for the education and training of medical students. Headed by Dean of Medical Education, Professor Tim Lancaster, the School has a thriving community of 2,200 undergraduate students.
The Faculty is located at four central London campuses - Guy’s, St Thomas’, Denmark Hill and Waterloo Campus. The campus locations reflect the Faculty’s close alignment to our NHS partners.
King's Health Partners
King’s Health Partners is one of the UK’s six Academic Health Sciences Centres and brings together a world leading research led university (King’s College London) and three NHS Foundation Trusts (Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley).
The King’s Health Partners’ aim is to create a centre where world-class research, teaching and clinical practice are brought together for the benefit of patients. King’s Health Partners want to make sure that the lessons from research are used more swiftly, effectively and systematically to improve healthcare services for people with physical and mental health care problems. King’s Health Partners integrated organisations serve more than 4.8 million patients every year, has approximately 40,000 employees and has a combined annual turnover of £3.7 billion. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org
Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Guy's & St Thomas' provides 2.4 million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services and community services every year. As one of the biggest NHS trusts in the UK, with an annual turnover of almost £1.5 billion, it employs around 16,200 staff. The Trust is able to provide specialist care for services such as cardiac surgery, children’s care, oncology, dermatology and ophthalmology. It is committed to becoming the major university hospital in the UK and to staying at the forefront of patient care, teaching and research. Guy’s and St Thomas’ has contracts with more than 65 purchasing authorities, covering all major specialties such as surgery, dermatology, haematology, HIV and GU care, obstetrics, ophthalmology, palliative and pain care, radiology, lithotripsy, cardiology, diabetes, haemophilia, oncology, paediatrics, dentistry, maternity care, plastic surgery, respiratory care, rheumatology, ITU and renal care.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching hospitals, training over 900 dentists, 750 doctors and 300 nurses every year. The Trust is recognised internationally for its work in liver disease and transplantation, neurosciences, cardiac, haemato-oncology, stroke and major trauma. On 1 October 2013, King’s took over the running of the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley and Orpington Hospital, as well as some services at Beckenham Beacon and Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup. The new enlarged organisation has over 10,500 staff and provides over 1 million patient contacts a year. 9,000 babies are delivered by our hospitals each year, and over 750 patients come to our Emergency Departments every day.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust prides itself as an investor in people and on providing a friendly and supportive climate to enable all staff to achieve their best potential.
Integrated Academic Training
Our NIHR-funded Integrated Academic Training (IAT) Programme at King’s College London allows Academic Clinical Fellows and Clinical Lecturers to develop academic skills at a world-class university while furthering clinical training in partnership with three leading NHS Foundation Trusts: Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley. The programme currently has over 100 trainees in medical and dental specialties.
Please see the IAT pages for more information.