Written question WQ92456

Oriel was developed by NHS England on behalf of the four nations and was launched in September 2014. It is the UK-wide portal for recruitment to postgraduate medical, dental, public health, healthcare science and foundation pharmacy training. It is not used for placement management.

The system was procured in line with government and digital system requirements and developments. Key stakeholders, including devolved administrations and statutory education bodies (via medical and dental recruitment and selection board and the UK Education Reference Group), Royal Colleges, trainees and the BMA were consulted and engaged in the original development of the system and continue to be so as any developments and upgrades are explored.

All recruitment processes enable applicants to preference geography. Some programmes are more competitive than others and those with the highest ranking are most likely to be allocated to the nation and region/rotation of their first choice. The role of Oriel in this process varies across programmes but all applicants have the opportunity to preference the nation of choice in the first instance. For applicants allocated to Wales there is an opportunity to preference locations within Wales. The process for this varies across programmes.