Warwick Medical School

The accelerated graduate-entry MB ChB programme is a challenging but extremely rewarding programme that will give you medical knowledge, develop your clinical and research skills, attitudes, awareness and enthusiasm for a vocation in any field of medicine.

Why Study Medicine At Warwick?

WMS offers the largest graduate entry MB ChB programme in the UK with a total annual intake of 178 UK and overseas students.

Our exciting and innovative programme is supported by a range of great facilities including the purposebuilt Medical Teaching Centre, the fully equipped Biomedical Learning Grid, and our range of Gunther von Hagens’ plastinated specimens at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

The course features early involvement with patients and focuses on developing both clinical and communication skills, grounded in respect for the patient.

We emphasise values-based medicine and appreciate the important contribution that other health professionals bring to the clinical team.

The programme aims to ensure that you understand the scientific basis of medicine and are able to pull together relevant concepts in a focused approach to clinical problem solving. There will be blocks of community based work, work in local hospitals and the opportunity to undertake a medical project in a setting of your choice during your elective period.

Throughout the course you will progress from directed student learning in a structured environment to student directed learning in the clinical environment.

Allison Condell

Student Profile: Allison Condell,

MB ChB, Warwick Medical School

'What attracted me to WMS was the all-graduate entry and well‑structured course, blending lectures with small group sessions. I really enjoy working with graduates as everyone brings different ideas and skills to the programme. As a civil engineering graduate, I have not felt disadvantaged in any way; the lectures take into account the different levels of knowledge from a range of degrees.

The many facilities at WMS include the BioMed Grid – a reference library for medical students, Clinical Education Fellows room – anatomical models and instruments for learning clinical skills, and the Clinical Teaching Suite at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire where we learn anatomy from specialised plastinations. I love studying at WMS; it has supportive friends, helpful staff and purpose-built, state-of-the-art facilities'.

The General Medical Council (GMC) states in ‘Tomorrow’s Doctors’ that MB ChB graduates should have followed a student centred curriculum that allows them to approach “learning based on curiosity and exploration of knowledge, rather than its passive acquisition.” With this in mind WMS uses case based learning that enhances the clinical application of the material. You will work in a small group, remaining with this group for at least the first year.

How Is The Programme Taught?

Our MB ChB programme is taught mainly at the University of Warwick in the early years, with some sessions located in our partner Trusts: the George Elliot Hospital in Nuneaton, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW), Redditch Hospital and Warwick Hospital. You will attend lectures and work in small groups, guided by clinicians or members of academic staff. Assessment will include both written and practical examinations.

Clinical attachments are mainly based in acute hospital settings, normally in our partner hospitals, and in primary and community care placements ranging from GP practices to outreach projects. The aim is that you receive a well rounded experience from a designated consultant – usually a student pair is attached to a pair of consultants.

An elective period spent either in a clinical setting in the UK, or abroad, is offered in the final year. The aim of this period of study is for you to engage in selfdirected learning in a field of your choice providing a time for self reflection, personal development and access to medicine in a different context.

What Further Training Will I Require After Graduation?

Before you can register fully with the GMC you must undertake further training after graduation. Warwick graduates are entitled to provisional registration with the GMC with a licence to practise, subject to demonstrating to the GMC that their fitness to practise is not impaired. The Warwick course, as with all others, is followed by two Foundation Years (F1 and F2). For the Coventry and Warwickshire area, this Foundation Training Programme is organised by the West Midlands Deanery with which WMS has close links. You will emerge from your Foundation Years as a doctor ready to move into your chosen field of specialisation. This may be within the NHS, perhaps working in a hospital specialising in surgery or psychiatry, or after further training, you may wish to work as a general practitioner. Other opportunities may lead you to specialise in pathology or medical research.