Trainee information

Inter Regional Transfer

Looking for Inter Deanery Transfers or Foundation Transfers?

Transfers within the Scotland Deanery - Inter Regional Transfers

At some point in training it may be necessary to consider moving to another part of Scotland to continue training. This might be due to unforeseen or significant changes in personal circumstances, or for other personal reasons.

The process for trainees who wish to transfer from one region to another in the Scotland Deanery is shown below.

Trainees who wish to transfer to England, Wales or Northern Ireland must use the UK Inter-Deanery Transfer process (IDT).

What is it?

The process has been developed to support medical trainees who wish to request that their training continues in a different part of Scotland. This might be due to an unforeseen, significant change in circumstance since the commencement of their current training programme in Scotland. These changes are covered under criterion 1-4 of the IRT trainee guide.

An unforeseen, significant change in circumstances should relate to:

Personal disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010 or
A condition relating to mental health following the acceptance of an offer of a training post or
Caring responsibilities or
Parental responsibilities or
a change in a significant relationship with an associated impact on living or financial arrangements. You are also able to apply if you or your partner are pregnant or undergoing IVF treatment.

Trainees can also request a transfer for any other reason not covered by the above examples. This would be done under criterion 5 (see below).

It should be recognised that transfers are not an entitlement. IRTs will depend on compliance with eligibility criteria and evidence requirements, and there being vacancies in the training programme in the region into which trainees are applying to move.

Criterion 5

Under Criterion 5, trainees are not required to demonstrate any change to personal circumstances and therefore an IRT can be requested for any other reason that is not covered by Criterion 1-4.

Who can apply?

Please note that the IRT process does not apply to foundation doctors, Locum appointments for training (LATs), dental trainees in any level of training or trainees in the Scottish National Programmes.

Foundation trainees should use the Foundation Transfer Process
Dental trainees should contact their Postgraduate Dental Dean for further information.
Trainees in Scottish National Programmes should request a transfer through their Training Programme Director.
Clinical lecturers appointed to SCREDS academic posts to the local University appointment process are not eligible as their circumstances are already addressed by the current processes and these should be able to transfer by agreement with the SCREDS leads in the academic centres.

There are two application windows. Each application window will remain open for 4 working weeks and open in:

February (window 1) – information on outcome by late April and transfer between August and October of same year.

(February 2026 applications open on Monday 2^nd Feb and close at 5pm on Friday 27^th February. No late applications will be accepted)

September (window 2) – information on outcome by late November and transfer between February and April of following year.

(September 2026 applications open on Tuesday 1^st Sep and close at 5pm on Tuesday 29^th Sep. No late applications will be accepted)

Things to do first

Read the Trainee Guide to Inter Regional Transfers carefully. There are also quick guides for each of application criteria in the documents section below which you might find helpful.
Trainees must discuss alternative support arrangements with their Educational Supervisor or Training Programme Director before applying for an IRT. Trainees should consider all alternatives before applying.
Trainees should demonstrate that a significant change to personal circumstances has occurred that could not have been foreseen at the time of accepting the offer of a post on a training programme in order to be considered under criteria 1-4 or use criterion 5 for any other reasons. Criteria for change in circumstances are detailed in the Trainee Guide.
Changes to personal circumstances must have occurred before making an application and applications cannot be based on expected or anticipated future events.
As trainees will require statements and supporting evidence from medical specialists and/or local authorities it is recommended that they allow sufficient time for this to be done.
Trainees may request transfers to a programme in a different geography but may not specify particular posts or rotations they wish to be placed in at the IRT application stage. This will be discussed at a later stage in the process with the trainees who have been accepted into a new region.
Trainees should note that requests for transfer will not normally be considered within the first 12 months of joining a training programme.

Applying

If you consider you meet the criteria and want to proceed with your application, you will find templates for completing the Deanery Document and your supporting evidence in the section below. Once you have gathered evidence you should complete the application form. Applications will be considered at one of the two annual transfer windows.

Documents

If you have a question that is not covered in the Guide, you can email IRT for more information.

This page was last updated on: 30.09.2025 at 09.11