Medicine MBBS

Our medical degree course structure and curriculum

We understand that to truly address inequalities and improve health outcomes, doctors of tomorrow need to learn medicine through taking active roles in the care of patients who need it most. We will prepare doctors who can navigate both local and international health and healthcare challenges by embedding local and global health priorities in your teaching.

You will learn through a breadth of teaching approaches. On campus, you will learn through lectures, anatomy demonstrations, workshops, reflective case-based tutorials and simulations. On placements, you will learn in hospital wards and clinics, GP practices and community settings, learning about medicine through supporting patients navigate their care pathways.

Our future graduate doctors will be able to think globally whilst serving patients locally, using values to guide their care with scientific excellence and compassion.

Your MBBS is organised as two Phases 1 and 2.

Phase 1: Years 1 and 2

Integrated and Applied Science and Clinical Medicine - study and apply scientific knowledge to patient conditions in areas such as anatomy, physiology, cellular biology, microbiology, immunology, haematology, biochemistry, radiology and pharmacology.

Medicine and Society – learn psychology and sociology of health, epidemiology, biostatistics, medical law and ethics and research skills, and how these apply to your future role as a doctor.

Clinical and Professional Practice – develop your clinical, communication and professional skills through:

• simulation in our specially designed Integrated Skills and Simulation Centre
• in reflective case based discissions in small, personalised groups
• clinical placements: meeting patients and their families from year 1 in General Practice and community settings such as music therapy.

In year 2, you will have the opportunity to take a Speciality Choice Component (SSC2) where you will be able to choose a placement experience that aligns with your interests and future career goals.

Phase 2: Years 3-5

You’ll continue to build on the skills you’ve learned in your first years. Clinical placement experience will take place in rotations

In Year 3: General Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Surgery and General Practice

In Year 4: Speciality Medicine and Surgery, Mental Health, Cancer Care and End of Life, Women’s Health and Urology and Paediatrics. Alongside these clinical rotations you will embark on an innovative yearlong Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC). The LIC will be embedded across the duration of Year 4 with students spending a half day per week in pairs looking after their own caseload of patients, taking an active role in their care across different care pathways.

Year 5 is your final year and will concentrate on your transition into clinical practice completing rotations which are: Emergency Medicine, Mental Health, Research, and an Assistantship in GP and hospital medicine.

Like year 2, in years 3, 4 and 5, students will have the opportunity to undertake speciality choice components (SSCs), allowing flexibility for students to explore areas of interest from a range of options.

Placements

Located across Southwest and West London, Surrey, and Berkshire, students will gain diverse clinical experience from year 1 in a range of settings including NHS Hospitals, General Practices, hospices, charities, local schools, and community and Allied Health services. Some of the exciting ways you will learn when you are on placement:

• Social action projects: you will work together in small groups on real world community projects addressing social determinants of health and having a lasting impact on community challenges and priorities
• Student health coach: you will be trained in health coaching and will be able to support patients with issues such as preventable illnesses, lifestyle factors and social isolation
• Patient advocate: you will care for patients and their families learning medicine through supporting patients through care pathways, and learning to work alongside a wider multi-disciplinary team

There will also be the opportunity for student selected choices or choice blocks in Year’s 2, 3 and 5 which will offer a variety of placement experiences in clinical and/or health related settings. Clinical placements will increase in length and intensity as you progress through the course and will cover the full range of practical skills and procedures needed across the specialties as required to practise as a doctor in the UK. The School of Medicine Placements team will organise and co-ordinate placements and inform students of their individual allocations on an ongoing basis.

Please note: it is possible that a module listed on the website will not be able to run due to reasons beyond our control. For more information please refer to our course information disclaimer.