- Programmes for 2026 to 2028 come from Oriel, where UKFPO publishes them, and are checked against each foundation school's own list. Where a school has already published its 2027 to 2029 programmes, those come straight from that school's list.
- From the GMC's National Training Survey 2026, in which resident doctors rate their training posts. For each hospital we show how Foundation doctors rated that kind of post there, compared with the national average. If too few answered at a hospital, we say so and use the closest figure the GMC published.
- From Ward on the Street, where resident doctors report what their trust uses: electronic or paper notes, e-prescribing, and how well its systems connect. We check reports against each other, but a trust can change its systems before anyone tells us, so a very recent change may not show yet.
- The rotations and GMC ratings come from the official published lists and survey, and the digital systems data from doctors' own reports, checked against each other. Lists can change after they're published, so check anything you're relying on with your foundation school before you preference it. Your ranking is a guide, not advice.
- You sort specialties and hospitals into Like, Neutral and Dislike, plus Dream and Hate with Foundation Ranker Complete. The higher something sits in your Like list, the more it counts. Each rotation is then scored on how well its placements match your choices, weighted by your specialty vs location slider. Anything you hate sends a rotation to the bottom, and your dream pick lifts every rotation that has it to the top.
- It's a score out of 10 for how often other Foundation Ranker users in your group put this rotation in their top 10, from Highly competitive down to Hidden gem. Where there's enough data, it's based on users who share your priorities or specialty preferences. It comes from users' rankings, not from Oriel or the allocation.
- Two Foundation Ranker Complete features. Dream is one specialty or hospital you really want: every rotation with it moves to the top, and for a dream specialty you can prefer it in Foundation Year 2. Hate is up to three dealbreakers: any rotation with one drops to the bottom. If a rotation has both, the hate wins. We warn you if a hate would push most rotations down, and block one that would leave almost nothing to rank.
- Each one you switch on adds a little to every rotation's score, on top of your specialty and hospital choices: GMC survey scores where Foundation doctors rated the hospital well on the areas you pick, better digital systems (electronic notes, your preferred EPR, joined-up systems), and hospitals close together. Your own choices still count most, and Dream and Hate still come first.
- Foundation Ranker Complete adds GMC trainee feedback across 14 indicators, digital systems data, site clustering (how close a rotation's hospitals are to each other), the Dream pick with its Foundation Year 2 preference, the Hate list, your own specialty vs location weighting, competitiveness scores, a full score breakdown for each rotation, and Excel export for allocation day. It also comes with Dr Dev's book, 42 Night Shift Lessons I Learnt the Hard Way, and 25% off Pastest.
- We calculate the straight-line distance between all hospitals in each rotation. Rotations where hospitals are close together score higher. This helps you avoid long commutes between placements.
- Yes. Type your postcode into the search bar on the hospitals step and press 'Sort by distance'. Your neutral hospitals reorder by distance; liked and disliked ones keep their order.
- On the Like list, you can drag your most-wanted picks to the top. When 'Order matters' is on, the item at the top counts more in scoring than the ones below it. When it's off, every liked item carries the same weight regardless of position. Default is on.
- Yes - the basic ranker is completely free. You can rank all rotations by specialty and hospital preference at no cost. Foundation Ranker Complete is an optional upgrade for deeper insights.
- Foundation Ranker 2026 costs a lot to build, host and keep up to date, from servers and software licences to ongoing development. Foundation Ranker Complete pays for that, which is how the basic ranker stays free for everyone. The digital systems data comes from Dr Dev's community on Ward on the Street, and you're welcome to look up each hospital there yourself if you'd rather.
- Foundation Ranker Complete includes an exclusive code for 25% off Pastest, which comes with your free copy of Dr Dev's book, 42 Night Shift Lessons I Learnt the Hard Way. It works on 12-month subscriptions and saves £45 on MRCP, for example.
- No - Foundation Ranker 2026 is built by Doctor Devify, an independent resource for resident doctors. We are not affiliated with Oriel, UKFPO, or any NHS organisation.
