FOUNDATION SCHOOL GUIDE
West Midlands North Foundation School hospitals
West Midlands North Foundation School covers Staffordshire, Shropshire and the Black Country. Mapped locations include Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Shrewsbury and Telford.
UKFP 2026 PRIMARY-ALLOCATION RATIO
0.40 first-choice applicants per programme- Programmes
- 436
- First choices
- 175
- After pre-allocation
- 0.39
A ratio above 1.00 means there were more first-choice applicants than programmes. It is a historical demand measure, not an individual probability of allocation.
Compare all 18 Foundation Schools across 2024–2026Possible hospital locations
The table lists the hospital sites currently shown for West Midlands North. Availability can change between recruitment years, so confirm rotations in the live Oriel programme information before ranking.
| # | Hospital site | Town or area |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Stoke University Hospital | Stoke-on-Trent |
| 2 | New Cross Hospital | Wolverhampton |
| 3 | Walsall Manor Hospital | Walsall |
| 4 | Russells Hall Hospital | Dudley |
| 5 | Royal Shrewsbury Hospital | Shrewsbury |
| 6 | Princess Royal Hospital | Telford |
| 7 | County Hospital Stafford | Stafford |
SCHOOL-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS
What the mapped footprint shows
All 7 mapped sites use different town or locality labels, so the table reads as a dispersed set of 7 locations rather than one dominant mapped cluster.
West Midlands North recorded primary first-preference ratios of 0.39 in 2024, 0.38 in 2025 and 0.40 in 2026. The 2026 figure was broadly similar to the 2024 figure. Across the three published cycles, the range was 0.38 to 0.40, illustrating why one year should not be treated as a forecast.
Questions to check for this school
- Which current programmes include the mapped sites, and in which training year?
- Are programmes divided into local groups that reduce travel across the full school footprint?
- Which locations would require a move, a car or travel outside normal public-transport hours?
- Have programme numbers or local allocation arrangements changed since the historic ratio was published?
How to use this information
This is an independent orientation resource. A mapped hospital is a possible location associated with the Foundation School, not a promise that a placement will be offered in every recruitment round. Use the official Foundation School and Oriel listings for final decisions.