BMA does not support shortening medical training

Helen Barratt London

Further research is needed before the BMA will endorse the shortening of medical degree courses. In a new report, the association explores the provision of shortened degree courses and concludes that a full evaluation is needed before any changes are made.

The government’s NHS Plan for England published last year proposed a one year reduction in the length of both the graduate and undergraduate medical courses in order to address the current shortfall of doctors. The BMA report acknowledges that shortening courses would be one way of achieving this but suggests that increasing the number of medical school places available, widening access by revising selection criteria, and providing financial support are equally important.

There are currently four medical schools running graduate entry programmes and the BMA recommends that these courses should be fully evaluated before any changes are introduced.

It says that shortening undergraduate programmes poses a bigger challenge, largely because of a European directive which stipulates that medical training should comprise a six year course which includes the preregistration house officer year in the United Kingdom. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA’s head of health policy, science, and ethics said, “Many students may benefit from taking a shorter degree course, and yet others may actually need longer to be fully prepared for a career in medicine.”

Jenny Ciechan, a representative on the BMA’s medical students committee said, “If the government is truly committed to attracting students from wider backgrounds, it must first address the increasing level of student debt. The introduction of tuition fees and the abolition of student grants have discouraged students, especially those from less affluent backgrounds, from applying to medical school.”

Commenting on the report, Stewart Petersen, professor of medical education at Leicester Warwick Medical School, said that those universities like his which have introduced the graduate entry schemes have done so to attract a broader range of students. “Graduate entry should be seen as one of a variety of routes into medicine. It is variety which is important rather than any particular route in getting the diversity we need,” he said.



studentBMJ 2001;09:357-398 October ISSN 0966-6494