Keele University School of Medicine

Establishment

Royal Stoke University Hospital

The Royal Commission on Medical Education (1965–68) issued its report (popularly known as the Todd Report) in 1968 on the state of medical education in the United Kingdom. The commission estimated that by 1994 there would be a need to train more than 4,500 doctors a year for the United Kingdom, and that this would have to be achieved by both increasing the numbers of medical students at existing medical schools, and establishing a number of new ones. It recommended that new medical schools should be immediately established at the universities of Nottingham, Southampton and Leicester.

The Royal Commission considered the possibility of medical schools being established at Keele University, Hull University, Warwick University and Swansea University (then University College, Swansea). North Staffordshire was deemed a very good site as it had a growing local population and several large hospitals. However, 150 students a year would be required to make it economically and educationally viable and thus the scheme was postponed. In 1978, the Keele Department of Postgraduate Medicine opened. This department conducted medical research, and played a part in postgraduate medical education, but did not teach undergraduate medical students. In 2003, 35 years after the publication of the Todd Report, the current medical school was founded.^[1]

Initial teaching

From 2002 the school began teaching clinical undergraduate medicine to clinical medical students who had completed their pre-clinical medical education at either School of Medicine, University of Manchester or the Bute Medical School (University of St Andrews). These students followed the curriculum of the Manchester School of Medicine clinical course, and after three years of clinical study at Keele, were awarded the degrees of MBChB by the University of Manchester. The first cohort of students completing their course at Keele did so in 2005. In 2003, Keele started teaching the full five-year course, using the Manchester curriculum. Both pre-clinical and clinical medical education were established in Staffordshire and Shropshire. Keele began to develop its own undergraduate medical curriculum in 2007.

Current teaching

Royal Stoke University Hospital - View over Footbridge

From the 2011/12 academic year all students have followed the Keele curriculum. In January 2012 it was announced that the General Medical Council (GMC) had approved and registered the new five-year undergraduate curriculum. Students graduating in 2012 were awarded the Keele MBChB, wearing a new Keele two-colour hood reflecting the fact that students gain two degrees Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. Previously medical students at Keele have graduated with a Manchester degree. The GMC visited and scrutinised progress throughout the course’s development.^[2]

Keele's curriculum is integrated, with clinical experience and skills being taught in years one and two, and weekly science teaching in year three. A small number of graduate entry places are available for year two of the course and there is a six-year option for applicants with non-science qualifications. From 2006, applicants have been required to sit the UKCAT admission test. Years 1 and 2 teaching takes place on Keele University campus. Clinical teaching, years 3–5, takes place at the Royal Stoke University Hospital site, in Hartshill. Teaching at Keele also involves attachments at District General hospitals in Stafford, Shrewsbury and Telford, as well as attachments to General Practitioners (GP) in Staffordshire and Shropshire.^[1]

On-line learning

Keele Medical School promotes the use of online learning material, such as Keele Basic Bites, which is a free online video-based learning tool for Keele University Medical students, created by senior academic staff, providing medical education in an entertaining, as well as an informative fashion.

Undergraduate

• MBChB Medicine^[1]
• BSc Medical Humanities
• BSc Natural Sciences with the following named routes:

(i) Neuroscience (ii) Psychology (iii) Biochemistry (iv) Studies in Biomedical Sciences

Clinical Education Centre

Postgraduate

• MSc European Scientific Research Training with international placement
• MMedSci (Anatomical Sciences)
• MA Medical Education
• MSc Molecular Parasitology and Vector Biology
• MSc Biomedical Engineering
• MSc Cell and Tissue Engineering
• MSc Blood Science
• MA Medical Ethics and Law
• MA Medical Ethics and Palliative Care
• MPhil Primary Care Sciences

Other research MPhils are available in clinical and laboratory sciences and this varies from year to year.^[1]

Medicine

Keele has rapidly established a solid reputation for medicine. The school was ranked 4 out of the UK's 33 medical schools in The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017 with a student satisfaction score of 92.4%.^[9]

Keele was also highly regarded by students, rated in the top 3 medical institutions in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 National Student Surveys.^[1] The small intake has largely contributed to instill an esprit de corps amongst the student population.

For 2017 non-graduate entry, the A'level requirement is A*AA at a single sitting including Biology or Chemistry, a second science chosen from either Mathematics, Physics, Biology and Chemistry and a third subject.^[10] In 2015, for the traditional 5-year MBChB course, 2202 applications were made by UK/EU students with 285 offers for 119 places.^[11]

Nursing and Midwifery

Similarly, in Nursing and Midwifery, Keele has performed particularly well. In 2017, Keele was ranked 4 out of the UK's 69 schools according to The Guardian with a 98% satisfaction rate amongst its student cohort.For 2017, the A'level requirements is BBC with all candidates for preregistration Nursing and Midwifery programmes are required to meet or exceed NMC requirements, including literacy and numeracy skills.