Planning your application

Provisional programme numbers

It is the intention that initial programme numbers for all regions will be published prior to the application opening date, although this cannot be guaranteed. Numbers will be updated as and when notifications are received from each region and will be checked later in the round when programme preferences are open for selection.

Please note that stroke medicine programmes in Scotland are recruited via a separate process so are not represented here. There is a separate website for details about vacancies and the process in Scotland.

Vacancies from last year's recruitment can be seen in the data section

Who to contact will depend on the nature of the query:

General / application queries

For general queries relating to areas such as eligibility criteria, making an application on the Oriel system, please contact the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office via the PGMDE support portal: https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/home 

Information about training in a specific region

Queries relating to programme numbers, location of vacancies or the stroke medicine programme in a specific region, should be directed to the relevant region.

Progress of your application

Queries regarding the progress of a submitted application or attending interview should be directed to the lead recruiter. The lead recruiter for stroke medicine for 2025 is Thames Valley.

There is only planned to be one national round of stroke medicine in 2025 which covers England and Wales; please go to the relevant nation to seek information about recruitment to stroke medicine in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Should there be vacancies unfilled from the national round, or they subsequently arise, each region will decide whether they wish to run their own local round.

The timing for any local recruitment will vary on the region so you are advised to contact the region(s) in which you are interested in working directly. All vacancies will be advertised via Oriel and the NHS recruitment portal used by that nation:

• England and Wales: http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/
• Scotland: https://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/
  
• Northern Ireland: http://www.hscrecruit.com/

National stroke medicine recruitment has operated since 2019 and there is data from previous rounds to help guide your application. This includes:

• Competition ratios - application numbers submitted alongside the total vacancies.
• Total scores – the total score awarded to all candidates who completed the full recruitment process for a specialty (application and interview), including some analysis of scores.
• Fill rates - the number of vacancies available and number filled by region.