Medicine and Surgery MBChB

Please note that individuals applying to our Medicine programmes must consult our full guidelines. An indication of what qualifications may be required is listed on the Entry Requirements tab of this section.

The Liverpool School of Medicine has been developing excellent doctors for over 180 years.

Set in a world leading Russell Group University and a vibrant European City of Culture, it benefits from being one of the largest Medical Schools in the United Kingdom.

The University of Liverpool School of Medicine is surrounded by internationally recognised specialist clinical centres such as Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust.

Our approach to technology-enhanced learning including simulation, virtual reality and mobile learning ensures our students benefit from the development of new and exciting technological innovation.

Our purpose build Human Resource and Anatomy Centre combined with our Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre provide students with excellent experiential learning opportunities whilst being taught and supported by educational experts.

Our unique approach to leadership and management provides students with opportunities to develop their leadership and followership skills in a variety of experiential and situationally diverse environments.

Our focus on the basic and clinical sciences as the building blocks of all safe clinical practice ensures that our students feel confident in their core knowledge when undertaking clinical placements, allowing them to focus on developing their practical skills.

Our learning community of academic advisors, peer mentors, student societies, careers advisors, clinical teachers, educational specialists, researchers, professional services and student support staff ensure that students benefit from a wide network of support and expertise.

Curriculum framework

The University of Liverpool School of Medicine aspires to create capable, confident and caring doctors equipped to practice in a 21^st Century Healthcare Environment.

The Liverpool MBChB curriculum aims to:

• To ensure graduates have the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to safely and ethically practice medicine.
• To ensure graduates meet the outcomes set out in the GMC’s Promoting Excellence: standards for medical education and training (2015)
• To equip graduates with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for a career in academic medicine.
• To enable graduates to become lifelong learners committed to their own professional development.
• The curriculum framework is based on the three main outcomes of Tomorrow’s Doctors (GMC 2009): the Doctor as Scholar and Scientist, the Doctor as Practitioner and the Doctor as Professional. Each of these outcomes has a series of vertical themes to create a truly spiral curriculum. Four horizontal themes cut across the vertical themes to provide stage appropriate coverage of these important themes within each vertical theme.

The vertical themes which will run throughout the duration of the curriculum are The Science of Medicine, Research and Scholarship, The Chronically Ill Patient, The Acutely Ill Patient, Patient Safety, Leadership and Management and Professionalism. The four horizontal themes that will be integrated into each vertical theme are Psychology and Sociology as Applied to Medicine, Population Perspective (Public Health, Epidemiology and Evidence), Communication for Clinical Practice and Therapeutics.

For more information, please visit the School of Medicine website.

Post Graduation

Currently at the end of the undergraduate programme students receive their MBChB degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ entitles you to provisional registration with the General Medical Council. Provisional registered doctors can only practise in approved Foundation Year One posts. To obtain a Foundation Year One post students currently need to apply during the final year of their undergraduate course through the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme, which allocates these posts to graduates on a competitive basis. So far, all suitably qualified UK graduates have found a place on the Foundation Year One programme, but this cannot be guaranteed, for instance if there were to be an excessive number of competitive applications from non-UK graduates. Successful completion of the Foundation Year One programme is normally achieved within 12 months and is marked by the award of a Certificate of Experience. Students are then eligible to apply for full registration with the General Medical Council which is required along with a license to practise for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice in the UK.

In the interests of public safety, in accordance with Tomorrow’s Doctors, and in your own best interests, information pertinent to individual’s educational achievements and their fitness to practise may be shared by The University of Liverpool School of Medicine with training providers, employers, regulatory organisations and other medical schools. The MSC Excluded Students Database has been created to record students who have been excluded from a medical school on the grounds of fitness to practise. Thus in the interests of patient and public safety, The University of Liverpool School of Medicine may share some of the information provided in an individual’s application form with the MSC in order to verify their fitness to practise. Any offer for the medical programme will be conditional on applicants having disclosed any previous fitness to practise findings against them and their consent being given to this use of information.

Please note: Graduates applying to the A100 programme are subject to different entry criteria and there is currently the requirement for you to have taken GAMSAT. For further details please see www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses

Department Key Facts

Number of first year students

290 Year One undergraduates in 2016

Graduate prospects

99.2% are employed or in further study within six months of graduating (Destination of Leavers from Higher Education 2014/15)

National Student Survey

95% of our students said their communication skills had improved from their programme (National Student Survey 2016)

Why this subject?

Enjoy an innovative and blended approach to learning

Through our blend of tutorials, lectures, case-based and technology-enhanced learning we are committed to providing students with the most appropriate teaching methods designed to both enhance the student experience and create a dynamic and innovative educational environment.

Students have access to a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), housing a huge range of programme materials each year, including externally purchased content such as a prescribing safety package SCRIPT and the NHS e-learning for healthcare resource. Our teaching staff use personal response software (Poll Everywhere) to gain instant student feedback through mobile devices and all on-campus lectures are recorded and made available via a streaming server, which students have found extremely useful for revision and deepening their learning experience. Simulation training sessions within clinical settings also use the latest technology to recreate real time scenarios testing students in a safe environment.

Previous students, clinical teachers, patients, professionals and University staff are all regularly consulted to keep our curriculum at the leading edge.

Learn and develop in a supportive, open environment

Each student in the School has an academic member of staff personally supporting them and these academic advisers monitor and manage progress using an e-portfolio system.

We also have implemented a mobile texting system to send students personal notifications and reminders effectively and instantly. Our teaching and support staff continually drive this innovation forward, ensuring that we make the most efficient use of technology to complement and enhance existing traditional teaching methods and provide first class support, when students need it. We also actively support the promotion and development of our students’ wellbeing. We recognise the individuality of each student, and appreciate how needs differ amongst our learners, and our team are available throughout your training to discuss any issues that may be affecting you or your studies.

Our team work closely with central support services, outside agencies, as well as online support, to offer our students a range of skills and strategies to promote and encourage your personal development and welfare.

Start your professional career from day one

We’re focused on developing your professionalism at an individual, team and organisational level. You’ll study leadership, management and communication skills and understand the expected attitudes and behaviour of doctors, how to deal appropriately with patients and how to develop your reflective practice and self-regulation skills.

Learn to lead teams

As a doctor you will need the ability to manage and lead within a team structure and with the uncertainties, ambiguities and complexities of diagnosis and treatment. It’s challenging. We can help you meet this challenge by developing your effective leadership skills, including judgement, professionalism, compassion, honesty, courage, risk-assessment and self-awareness. Above all we’ll help you develop your understanding of the shared behaviours and beliefs within the healthcare team. Our students’ communications skills are recognised as excellent by our NHS partners. As part of Curriculum 2014 our first year medical students take part in a unique Army training programme, designed to develop their leadership and management skills. The success of this initiative has resulted in its expansion and delivery to a wider group of students.

Develop your patient focus

Through understanding how to manage clinical risk you will gain an overarching sense of patient safety in practice. You will gain a deep understanding of human factors, engineering, team behaviours and continuous quality improvement strategies to help you prepare for today’s patient focused health care setting.

Practice in our Clinical Skills Resource Centre (CSRC)

The CSRC provides evidence based teaching and aims to offer a safe professional environment in which students can learn and practice history taking, physical examination and practical skills prior to contact with patients. Our new and inspirational Learning Zone (opened in 2016) provides an interactive clinical skills facility which is open to students of all years to come to practise their clinical and examination skills.

Gain practical experience through longer clinical placements

We can help you become a competent and compassionate doctor through longer placements. Our ‘immersive’ approach helps you to get to know the clinical team you work with, and build meaningful working relationships. The School of Medicine is pleased to have links with a large number of local NHS hospital and community trusts, across a wide geographical area in the North West, including, among others, the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Whiston Hospital. Many of the hospitals we work with provide emergency, general and specialist treatments and all work closely with the School to provide placements and quality educational experiences. The Quality Assurance of student placement is an area upon which we place great importance. We are fortunate to be able to send our students to excellent specialist centres such as the Walton Centre (neurology); Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.