• medical education & training

We thank Thakker et al 1 for their insights into the recent announcement of changes to the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) application process. As medical students now entering our fifth year of study, we are concerned that the changes to the application process have been established without adequate input from the medical student community, yet we appreciate attempts to reduce pre-existing inequalities in medical education. We offer our opinions on the proposed changes and the effects that these will have on current and future students.

We agree that the proposed changes serve an injustice to those students who have already made substantial investments in the pursuit of additional degrees, but who miss the cut-off time (2023) by which the changes will take effect. In an open letter to the UKFPO from the British Medical Association, the authors propose that the date of introduction of these changes be reconsidered so that those who have already undertaken additional activities are credited appropriately for their work.2 We feel that this is the fairest solution; a sentiment that is shared by many of our student colleagues who feel disappointed that their hard work has been effectively nullified by these changes and are frustrated that this outcome has been ignored by the UKFPO. If Thakker’s supposition that the UKFPO’s decision has …