UK Based Foot and Ankle Training Fellowships
The UK hosts some of the best Foot and Ankle surgical training fellowships in the world. Nevertheless, the BOFAS Education Committee has been working hard on improving the quality of post-CCT training for a decade.
Below you can find contact details of all BOFAS accredited Foot & Ankle Fellowships, along with application and trainer details. You can also find feedback from previous years to help you find the perfect fellowship for you.
However, as part of our continual commitment to ensuring foot and ankle training in UK meets the highest standards, there are some important changes coming to the way in which fellowships are accredited.
BOFAS Education to Supplement Training
To supplement training in fellowships we introduced the annual Advanced Foot and Ankle Forum (AFAF) in 2016, a 3-day meeting specifically designed for UK Foot and Ankle Fellows, which has been a huge success and has triggered the creation of similar courses elsewhere. Attendance is by invitation only, but all UK fellows are automatically invited once registered, so please ensure your name is entered on the registry here to gain access to this and other courses such as the New Consultants Course.
Fellowships now need RCS Accreditation
For some time BOFAS has also set out the standards expected of UK Fellowship posts. A good quality Fellowship should provide a good balance between surgical practice in the operating theatre and decision-making in the outpatient setting, with at least 2 clinics and 3 theatre sessions per week. There should be a regular multi-disciplinary team meeting, study leave with protected time and a budget, research or audit sessions and a clear mechanism for feedback (Brown R et al. The Current Standards of Foot & Ankle Fellowships in the UK.)
UK Fellowships which meet these criteria are featured on this webpage, and BOFAS has monitored the quality of these Fellowships via annual feedback from Fellows. However, the number of fellowships listed has grown significantly over this time and BOFAS is no longer able to effectively govern the process of quality assurance. In addition, the Education Committee has been looking at ways to provide a more robust system of ensuring that both Fellowship trainers and Fellowship trainees are meeting the required criteria.
From February 2025, we will be phasing in major changes to the way in which UK Fellowship posts are governed and accredited, both from the point of view of Fellows, and Fellowship training units.
Partnering with the Royal College of Surgeons
BOFAS has entered a partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and together we have created a combined set of standards, including recommended criteria to be met by both the unit seeking approval for a fellowship programme, and by the fellow.
The criteria to be met by the unit relate to the faculty, training structure offered, data gathering for registries, research and audit. The criteria to be met by the fellow relate to professional behaviour, generic and specific clinical competencies (including a foot and ankle-specific logbook score - Indicative Surgical Procedures), and research and audit activity. Both the unit and the fellow are expected to engage with BOFAS activities, such as becoming a BOFAS member and attending the Annual Conference. Fellows can also attend AFAF (on a first come first served basis).
New Criteria for fellowships to meet
The duration of a RCSE/BOFAS Foot and Ankle Fellowship will normally be 12 months, and this may be comprised of either one 12-month or two consecutive 6-month accredited fellowship posts.
The criteria to be met by the unit and the fellow are set out in this document as a guideline: RCS England – BOFAS recommended standards and framework
Applying for Accreditation for your fellowship
Units applying for RCSE/BOFAS accreditation will therefore do so via the RCSE (Application Form), and the approval process will involve the RCSE and BOFAS as well as the SAC and regional TPD and will likely take a number of months to complete.
Costs involved
There will be a fee payable to the RCSE for the administration and ongoing quality assurance of the training programme and trainee, which falls to the training unit: £1,800 for three years approval (after which re-application is required). If the fellowship programme has more than one Fellow, there will be an additional fee of £750.
In November 2026 the current fellowship posts on this webpage will be removed, unless they have been successful in achieving joint RCSE/BOFAS accreditation via the new process.
Additional information: