Published by the Kent and Medway STP community 20 March 2018
The announcement of a new medical school for Kent and Medway has been described as ‘an essential boost’ for improving health and care for the people of Kent and Medway by Glenn Douglas, chief executive of the partnership of NHS and social care leaders.
The NHS has particularly welcomed the design of the courses at the school, which involve trainee doctors working across all the sites in Kent and Medway and working in primary care (such as GP practices) from the very beginning of their training. Kent has a particular shortage of General Practitioners.
‘We are delighted with this announcement,’ said Mr Douglas. ‘We have been clear that Kent and Medway have a big problem staffing NHS posts, and this is causing significant strain on health services. We have been fully in support of the bid from our two Universities for a medical school. Having a medical school locally is known to provide an essential boost to recruitment and retention and we know this is vital, particularly in our coastal areas. We want people in Kent and Medway to seriously consider health and care as a career, and the universities will now be offering an extensive range of courses – including medicine – within our region.’
The bid for a medical school was submitted by Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent in November and the announcement was made by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Health Education England today.
It will be the county’s first ever medical school, bringing together the existing centres of excellence in health and medical education provided by the two universities, and local healthcare organisations, to offer a new model of patient-focused medical education.
Further information about health and care careers is available on: healthcareers.nhs.uk and skillsforcare.org.uk.
