There are two steps in the process to starting your application and the first step can be undertaken at any time. You will not be able to take the second step - start your application - until the opening date for applications.
- Create an account on the Oriel system - unless you have one already.
- Start your application - once you have created an account and applications are open, you can begin your application. To do this, go into the vacancies section of Oriel, find the vacancy for 'Internal Medicine Training' and then apply.
The application opening and closing dates can be found on the dates & posts page of this website. More information about the steps above are covered in the applying section.
Once the application period opens, you can start filling in the form. However, you can create your account on the Oriel system before this
In addition to this, you could start to plan writing your supporting text for the application scoring, commitment to specialty, and achievements outside medicine sections.
It is advised that you start your application as soon as possible after applications open, many candidates report it taking at least ten hours to complete their form. It is advisable to aim to submit your application in advance of the closing date in case you have any last-minute technical issues; late applications cannot and will not be accepted under any circumstances.
Plan to allow several sessions of one-to-two hours per session saving your work regularly.
It may take you some time to identify all the information you need or wish to mention. It may also take time to complete some of the questions which ask for a word-limited response as well as reviewing the whole form before submission.
You can only complete and submit a single application in any round of the IMT recruitment process, irrespective of whether you wish to apply for ACCS-IM or IMT programmes (or both) or for however many regions you wish to be considered.
This application will be used jointly for ACCS-IM and IMT and all regions and only one form can be submitted.
You will be invited to state programme preferences later in the process (should your application progress to that point) and can preference as many or as few programmes as you wish from across the whole of the UK and from either or both ACCS-IM and IMT programmes.
Please note that not all regions have ACCS-IM programmes; estimated programme numbers are published on the IMT website prior to applications opening.
If you do not manage to submit your application form by the advertised deadline you will have to apply again at a future opportunity as late applications will not be accepted under any circumstances.
We emphasise very strongly that candidates should aim to submit their applications well before the closing date. This will allow any queries and problems to be resolved in advance of the deadline.
If you miss the deadline for round 1, the chances are that you will need to wait until the following year's recruitment, as there is only expected to be one round this year.
It is not anticipated that a second round will be required and we urge anyone interested in an IMT programme to apply in round 1. This will be reviewed after applications close for round 1 and, should it be decided a second round may be required, a news item will be published.
General
It is possible to copy over parts of an application from one vacancy to another but only in the following circumstances:
- Only submitted applications can have information copied to another form.
- The vacancies must use the same version of the application form; this means it will usually be possible to transfer information between applications in the same recruitment year, but not between years as a new version of application forms is created each year.
- Only parts 1 and 2 of the form can be transferred, this is the information that is general across specialties and does not include specialty-specific questions.
You will be given the option of copying information if you have a previously created an application meeting the criteria above. It is your choice whether to copy over information and your responsibility to check that the information you submit is 100% accurate and any copied information is as you intend.
If particular personal circumstances make it impossible for you to work outside of a specific region, you do not need to do anything on your application form as initially you can be considered for all UK regions.
After application, if shortlisted, you will have the opportunity to preference specific programmes/regions which means you can limit what you will potentially be offered to only those for which you wish to be considered.
In some cases you may qualify for the national ‘special circumstances’ policy which apply in specified circumstances. This applies to applicants where either:
- the applicant is the primary carer for someone who is disabled, as defined by the Equality Act 2010
- the applicant has a medical condition or disability for which ongoing follow up for the condition in the specified location is an absolute requirement
Full details about the policy are available in the applicants’ guide on the MDRS Specialty Training website.
If you do not know or do not have the actual day for a particular entry, you should enter 01 for the day and then enter the correct month and year.
If your training status dictates that you need to provide a Certificate of Readiness to Enter Specialty Training (see the foundation competences page of this website for more information), this must be completed and uploaded to your Oriel account prior to submission.
In most cases, applications submitted without evidence of foundation competence will be rejected as ineligible.
If exceptional circumstances prevent you from being able to have a certificate completed and/or uploaded, you should submit a query to the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office as early as possible, and before you submit your application to explain your circumstances, so it can be reviewed whether alternative arrangements can be considered.
However, please do be aware that this will only be possible in very exceptional circumstances.
In cases such as this it is acceptable to use the employment gap section of the form to overview your work experience during periods. When doing this you should enter the dates you are covering and then the text box to provide details on: the specialty(ies) and level of employment and the whole time equivalent you worked during the time period. What is most important is that recruiters can assess your experience against the experience criteria so knowing how long you have worked is particularly important.
Recording your employment in this way is not generally permitted but it is recognised that in certain cases it would be very impractical to list all the details required by the form about lots of very short term locum posts and so this is acceptable in those instances.
Fitness to Practice
You should provide details of any offence for which you may go to court, or are awaiting a hearing in court. This includes incidents where you have been arrested and are waiting to hear if you will be charged.
If you are living in Scotland, all recent penalties must be declared.
The programmes for which you are applying are exempt from the 'Rehabilitation of Offenders Act', and therefore any cautions or convictions you may have received cannot be considered 'spent' and must always be declared.
You must adhere to Good Medical Practice, which requires that you do your best to make sure that any documents you write or sign are not false or misleading. As such, if you are in any doubt, please declare it.
Should you receive an offer of employment, your employer is obliged to carry out a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check at an enhanced level. If you do not declare something that subsequently comes to light, this will be taken very seriously and you may find yourself reported to the GMC.
Please note that the information on the fitness to practise page of your application will be kept strictly confidential to the members of the administrative staff registered to process your application, and to the dean or delegated officer(s) responsible for considering whether your declaration is, or is not, material to your application.
You are required to email your first choice region the details of any issue noted on the application form. The dean or delegated officer(s) from the region managing your application may need to contact you to provide further information in some cases.
In the event that you are made an offer, the information you supply will be passed on - in confidence - to your new employer's human resources department.
Where material exceptions do arise, it does not necessarily mean that your application will be rejected.
An applicant may be accepted in cases where a material incident occurred several years ago and there is no evidence of any recurrence, and the applicant continues to be registered with the GMC.
Fixed penalty notices do not need to be declared, but those driving offences not dealt with via a fixed penalty notice do. If you have been given a fixed penalty notice this will be clear on the paperwork relating to that fine.
Parking tickets also do not need to be declared. Absolutely everything else must be communicated, including any other speeding/driving offences.
The literature with the ticket - including the ticket itself - should specify whether or not this is classed as a fixed penalty offence.
If in doubt, we advise that you include details on your application.
It is not likely this will cause any problem for your application but due to the (understandably) rigorous checks in place, it is better to include items which are not required than to exclude those which are.
It depends; fixed penalty notices do not need to be declared, but those driving offences not dealt with via a fixed penalty notice do. If you have been given a fixed penalty notice this will be clear on the paperwork relating to that fine.
Parking tickets also do not need to be declared. Absolutely everything else must be communicated, including any other speeding/driving offences.
The literature with the ticket - including the ticket itself - should specify whether or not this is classed as a fixed penalty offence.
If in doubt, we advise that you include details on your application.
It is not likely this will cause any problem for your application but due to the (understandably) rigorous checks in place, it is better to include items which are not required than to exclude those which are.
You will be required to declare any criminal convictions or issues in relation to your fitness to practise.
For propriety, such declarations need to include all convictions, regardless of whether or not they can be regarded as 'spent'; this includes driving offences, with the exception of fixed penalty notices and parking offences.
The application form will contain a full page dedicated to nine fitness to practise issues.
Should you answer 'yes' to any of the nine corresponding questions, you will be required to give further details. This information should be supplied by submitting the designated 'Fitness to Practise Declaration Form' by the application closing date. The form can be sent via the PSRO applicant enquiries service.
The form will be forwarded to the region which will be checking eligibility for your application. If necessary, or if you do not supply information to explain the issue, they will contact you and you should send any details as instructed by them.
Please be assured that all FtP information will be handled confidentially; interviewers will not have access to the FtP page of your application, and so will not be aware of this information.
If an FtP issue you declare is not raised with you, this is likely to be because it is believed that it need not be taken into account.
In this part of the form, a question asks 'have you been charged with any offence in the United Kingdom or any other country that has not yet been disposed of?'
Here, the term 'disposed of' means that any actions related to the offence have been completed, and that there is nothing outstanding to address.
References
A person does not need to be a consultant to act as your referee necessarily. You must provide contact details of three referees who have supervised your clinical training during the last two years of your employment or undergraduate training. One referee must be your current or most recent consultant or educational supervisor familiar with your clinical development.
Where possible, yes.
The primary concern for recruiters when seeking references is that they should be as up-to-date as possible; the purpose of seeking a reference is to ensure your candidature is suitable for IMT, rather than to influence the decision when deciding to whom posts should be offered; references are not collected until after offers are made so have no bearing on your chances of being made an offer.
A reference from a 'good' or 'notable' referee will garner no advantage to your application.
It is possible to change your referees after submission of your form should you start working with another supervisor who is more familiar with your recent experience. Information about when you can amend references is on the 'sections of the application form' tab of the application form page of the website.
In some instances, using a current/recent referee will not be possible (eg an academic supervisor can only act as a referee if they are your current supervisor); also some past supervisors may not be able or willing to give a reference (such as if they are out of the country, or have since retired).
In these instances, you should nominate your next-most recent supervisor as a referee in their stead.
Should you start working with other potential referees after submitting your form, you can change your referees up to a certain point. Information about when you can amend references is on the 'sections of the application form' tab of the application form page of the website.
In short, this is at your discretion.
While it is generally preferred that your referees relate to as current a period of your training as is possible, it is also appreciated that you may not feel comfortable nominating a supervisor you may not have even met.
It is possible to change your referees after you submit your form, so you can update them to a newer supervisor once you have been working with them for a longer period.
Information about when you can amend references is on the 'sections of the application form' tab of the application form page of the website.
Yes - even after your application has been submitted, you can log back in and change/update referees' details if need be.
So if you are not sure about nomination of referees, do not let this hold up your application. Add details of those you deem appropriate at present, and then if need be these can be changed at a later date.
Information about when you can amend references is on the 'sections of the application form' tab of the completing the application form page of the website.
General
It is important to remember that most candidates will find they will have one or more domains in which they do not score any points.
While it is advantageous to have achievements in as many domains as possible (which helps demonstrates a well-rounded doctor), it is not likely to be a barrier to being shortlisted if you do not. Interviewers are aware that at foundation level there has not usually been the time to gain achievements in all areas.
The spread of scores and details of average application scores from recent years is available in the document library.
The application scoring system has been structured around the person specification for IMT and therefore all scored areas contribute to what will make a good physician. The application score is only one part of the process and it is much more important to undertake activities which are relevant to your interests, stage of training and to the service, rather than trying to score a few extra points in the application process.
Gaining a breadth of achievements across the scored areas will be beneficial to your application and your career as a physician but so will 'non-scoring' activities which can still be taken into account at interview as part of the overall assessment.
When you apply you will assess yourself against an application scoring matrix based on your achievements across a number of domains. This will generate a score and, if applications exceed interview capacity, candidates will be invited in order of score; with tie-breakers being employed for applicants with the same total score using each of the domains in turn.
Shortlisting is the only stage at which the self-assessment score will be used and it is likely that you will not need to provide any supporting evidence for your claims. However, you must have access to documentation proving every claim you make as you could be asked to supply evidence as part of a randomised audit. The evidence documents section of the website has further information about this area.
Which scoring option should I choose?
Unfortunately, the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office is not able to give specific guidance to candidates regarding the selection of particular options, as the completion of the IMT application form must be solely your own work.
The guidance we can provide is published on the application scoring section and also via the FAQs.
The only guidance beyond this that we can give is to use your professional judgement to select the option which you feel is most appropriate to your experience. You will be given the opportunity to expand on your selection on the application form, as well as at interview, should your application progress that far.
Further, evidence reviewers are aware that a candidate's experience will not always fit exactly into one available option; and so provided that your selection and justification is reasonable - and that you can provide evidence to support it - assessment of this section will not be overly stringent.
This will depend on your circumstances. For most candidates the only potential documentation you will need to submit at time of application is evidence of your foundation competence; although this does not apply if you are applying direct from the Foundation Programme.
However, there are some instances where you may need to submit something separate to your application. This would be sent separately to your application, using the specific form in each case. Areas include:
- Fitness to practise details – if you answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions in this section of the form you are required to complete the designated form at the time you submit your application and by the application closing date.
- Reapplying to the specialty – there is one of two forms to submit if you have either held or are currently holding a training post in the specialty; again this must be submitted by the application closing date. The form is available from the Medical training website.
- Special circumstances - this is where you are either the primary carer for someone who is disabled, or have a medical condition or disability for which ongoing follow up for the condition in a specified location is an absolute requirement. Qualifying applicants have a better chance of being offered a post in their required region. More information about this scheme is in the Medical Specialty Recruitment Applicant Handbook.
All other documentation such as qualifications, right to work details will not be a part of the recruitment process unless you are specifically requested to supply them at a later stage; although you will be emailed if anything else is required to help establish eligibility earlier than this.
You cannot select a scoring option on your application form based on an achievement not yet completed at time of application submission; any qualifications not yet gained, courses not yet taken, publications not yet published, etc. should not be included.
However, you can add information about this to the text box accompanying that area of the form to make interviewers aware. For example, if you are currently undertaking a masters degree, in the postgraduate qualifications section of the form you would select 'none/other', but could use the text box to explain what you are studying.
The only exception is publications which have been completely accepted and are 'in press'.
Unfortunately it is not possible to make changes to application forms after submission, including to the points awarded to applications. This is because the only way points scoring can be applied consistently is to make the submission date the cut off.
However, you are welcome to mention any achievements/activities undertaken at interview so this can be considered in the assessment of your application
Firstly, please check the spam/junk folder of the email account with which you registered.
It is important to make sure emails relating to your application are being delivered to your inbox, for the rest of the recruitment process.
Please also note there can be a delay between submission and your email being sent, particularly around the closing date when the majority of applications are submitted, so please allow some time for this to happen.
In addition, you can log in to the application system and view the status of your application in your dashboard. Once logged in, click on 'dashboard' and go to the 'My applications' area. You will see a summary of all your applications there, including the status of each application you have made; your application status will no longer say 'In progress' and will have been updated to 'Applied'.
As well as this, you can go to the 'Messages' area, where copies all emails sent to you via the application system are stored; so you can check a confirmation email has been sent by looking in here.
If you check these areas and are sure a confirmation email has not been sent, nor received, please contact the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office and we will investigate further.
Once applications have been submitted, they will be checked against the IMT eligibility criteria at the longlisting stage. Applications will be allocated to one of the regional recruitment teams who will conduct checks. If there are any issues with your application you will be contacted by the region assessing your application.
Those applications found to be eligible will then be shortlisted using the application form score.
Once shortlisting is complete, candidates will be invited to interview with invitations being sent to all candidates in a defined period.
For more information on the post-application period, please see the after submission page for the next stages and the dates & posts area for when to expect each stage.
Essentially no. There is not a set minimum score required for interview; all that happens is that if for example there are 2500 interview spaces available, the 2500 highest-scoring candidates will be invited. Without knowing the scores of all candidates and the exact interview capacity, this cannot be predicted with certainty in advance.
The document library contains information about shortlisting from previous years as a guide. However, there is no guarantee how similar each year will be to those previous.