Medicine MBChB

Thank you for your interest in our medicine degree programme that focuses on graduating excellent clinicians. As the vital roles of healthcare professionals are in the public eye like never before, you have probably been brought to this web page by your desire to make a difference to people’s lives through the skills and knowledge acquired by studying medicine.

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented challenge to healthcare provision in the UK. Our medical students have been outstanding in contributing to healthcare, particularly locally in Staffordshire and Shropshire. Over 150 students from Years 1–4 have volunteered for a variety of activities to support the public. Students in the early years have taken part in local schemes to support people isolated by the outbreak, help with childcare, and deliver medicines or shopping. Students in Year 4 have taken up medical assistant positions within our local hospital trusts. In these positions, under appropriate supervision, they have helped in frontline healthcare, performing tasks such as taking blood and setting up drips.

We are particularly proud of our final-year students. As a university, we were able to accelerate their graduation in response to a national request so that those wishing to could join the medical workforce three months earlier than usual. So far, over 80 new Keele medical graduates have taken up positions as “interim Foundation Year 1 doctors”, mainly in acute trusts in Staffordshire and Shropshire. A further 21 have chosen to take medical assistant roles locally. We have set no expectations that our students and graduates should take up these positions. For some students this would not be possible for personal reasons. However, the decision of so many students to contribute reflects their own sense of social responsibility which typifies our ethos at Keele University School of Medicine.