Modernising Medical Careers foundation programme curriculum competencies: will all rotations allow the necessary skills to be acquired? The consultants' predictions

The new UK Foundation Programme is competency based, with a trainee's progression dependent on achieving and demonstrating a range of competencies. However, we do not know whether all rotations, comprising different combinations of specialties, will enable the foundation programme trainees to acquire these competencies. Questionnaires were sent to 100 consultants from a range of specialties asking them to predict if a foundation year 1 or foundation year 2 doctor could acquire each competency when working in the consultant's specialty. Views on the competency framework as a whole were also sought. Results suggest that the competencies trainees may acquire depend on the specialties they experience in their rotation. Moreover, a range of competencies may prove difficult to acquire across most of the specialties. This has implications for the composition of foundation programme rotations, for educational and clinical supervision, and for the content and mode of curriculum delivery.