Keele University School of Medicine - History

History

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, but that this would still not produce enough doctors. It considered the possibility of a medical schools being established at Keele University, Hull University, Warwick University and Swansea University (then University College, Swansea). It was considered that North Staffordshire would be a very good site as it had a large local population and several large hospitals. However, it was considered that it would need a minimum intake of 150 students a year would be necessary to make it economically and educationally viable. It was considered that Keele University was at that time too small to support a medical school of this size. However, it was recommended that the hospital rebuilding programme going on at that time, should take account of the possible future establishment of a medical school. The commission envisaged a medical school Keele between 1975 and 1990.

In 1978, 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 2002, over 30 years after the publication of the Todd Report, the current medical school was founded, 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 and from academic year 2011/12 all students follow 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 will be 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 and reports are available on the GMC's website.

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.