Contributing to Health Education and Research
Warwick Medical School (WMS) has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2000, and is now the largest graduate entry-only medical school in the UK, producing highly trained doctors and world-class research. The School also makes a significant local contribution to education and research in health, and has taken on around 1,400 students since its inception, about 50% of who have gone on to work in the local NHS.
Local Partners
WMS works in partnership with the NHS and has close links with the Comprehensive Local Research Network (CLRN) for the West Midlands (South). The School has a number of key partners in Coventry and Warwickshire including University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW), a purpose-built £400 million teaching hospital, which is also home to WMS’s Clinical Sciences Research Unit. The School’s other principal clinical partners are Coventry Teaching PCT ; Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust; George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust; NHS Warwickshire PCT ; South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust , and West Midlands Strategic Health Authority.
WMS is also involved in teaching and research collaborations with Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust ; Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust , and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Research and Education
WMS is organised into five research divisions: Biomedical Cell Biology; Health Sciences; Mental Health and Wellbeing; Metabolic and Vascular Health; and Reproductive Health. The School’s Education Development Team manages a portfolio of teaching programmes including the respected MB ChB course, which is the Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, as well as a wide range of continuing professional development programmes for health care professionals.
In 2009 WMS opened its Surgical Training Centre, a centre of excellence in national and international specialist surgical training and anatomy teaching. The Centre is a partnership between WMS and University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, and is designed to deliver training to undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and allied health professionals, thereby preparing the surgeons and doctors of the future and offering exponential benefits to the wellbeing of the region’s population.
In 2011 WMS, together with University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust, launched Europe’s most advanced metabolic research facility in the West Midlands. The Whole Body Calorimeter (WBC) is a facility dedicated to finding solutions for the 1 in 4 adults classed as obese, enabling comprehensive analysis of both biochemical data and clinical observations. The facility is available for industrial collaborations with other institutions and companies to develop cutting edge research that could help encourage weight loss.
Collaboration within and outside the School and University is encouraged and investigators work across traditional disciplinary boundaries in innovative ways to ensure that the impact of the school’s research plays a part in shaping future policy and improving healthcare across the UK. In 2008 WMS was formally assessed, for the first time, in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and came in the top ten in the UK for the quality of its health services research. Academics at the cutting edge of their fields produce research which is both internationally recognised and relevant to the needs of the national and local health economy.
WMS’s educational programmes are underpinned by sound educational theory with delivery combining clinical, educational, administrative and technical expertise, and with an emphasis on multi-professional learning and reflection on practice. The School has the largest intake of graduates in the UK on its MB ChB programme, which is taught by staff at the forefront of their subjects in state of the art teaching facilities at the University and at regional hospitals.
Institute of Digital Healthcare
Launched in 2010, the Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH) is a five-year £4 million collaboration with the aim of placing the West Midlands at the forefront of digital health technologies. Through projects undertaken with collaborative partners, the IDH delivers benefits to patients and the public through the application of innovative digital solutions to a wide range of healthcare scenarios. By combining the talents and resources from WMG, WMS, NHS West Midlands, NHS Trusts, private enterprises, charities and other bodies, the IDH designs and delivers appropriate care solutions for patients and their care support networks.
Community Outreach
WMS has strong ties to the local community, with many members of its clinical staff working at hospitals and GP surgeries in the region. The School’s students spend two and a half years out of their four year MB ChB course working in healthcare placements in local NHS hospitals and GP practices. Outside their studies medical students work to raise money for local charities and engage in voluntary work, such as a ‘Sexpression’ group who visited local schools to talk to teenagers about sex education. Another initiative, The Teddy Bear Hospital, educated children in the community about staying safe and healthy living.
