Updated for 2024 Applicants

Oxford (Thames Valley) Foundation School is part of Health Education England Thames Valley. It stretches from Reading in the south, towards Oxford in the north and Milton Keynes in the west. There’s a mix of local district hospitals, including the Royal Berkshire in Reading (the largest district hospital in the UK) and teaching hospitals, such as the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford (a leading centre in medical research).

Successful applicants to Oxford Foundation School will need to rank the different trusts during the Group Preferencing Stage on Oriel prior to being able to preference specific programmes (grouped rotations and hospital sites). It's also worth knowing that almost all programmes here will require Foundation Trainees to move between trusts at some point during their 2 years here.

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Foundation School Statistics

2023 F1 Places: 286
2023 F1 Applicants: 357
2023 Competition Ratio: 1.25

2022 F1 Places: 230
2022 F1 Applicants: 325
2022 Competition Ratio: 1.41

2021 F1 Places: 215
2021 F1 Applicants: 310
2021 Competition Ratio: 1.44

Below is an interactive bar chart displaying the competition ratios, and the number of posts over the past 5 years.

How Does Oxford 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 Oxford 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 2023 GMC NTS. The national average Rotation Score is 57 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

"I picked the deanery as it’s a good location in the country with a high satisfaction rate. Oxfordshire also has great training opportunities.

All areas of Oxfordshire are lovely places to live in and I’ve heard from colleagues that the level of training is good in all of the regions.

There are good social activities available especially being in the south, and it’s easy to go to major cities nearby e.g. Cambridge, London. There is plenty of transport available at reasonable prices.

At Milton Keynes hospital, there is a lot of support from the seniors and fellow FY1s, especially on medicine. They are very willing to listen to your feedback."

Lorna Luo, Foundation Year 1 Doctors, Milton Keynes Hospital

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