Announcing the Hull York Medical School
Posted on 30 March 2001
The new School is a joint venture between the University of Hull and the University of York in partnership with the regional NHS, and will be known as the Hull York Medical School.
As well as providing training for new doctors, the School will help create a major international centre of health-related research in North and East Yorkshire and South Humber and increase employment in knowledge-based sectors of the regional economy.
The new School will help bring about improvements in health care and meet future needs for doctors, locally and nationally. It is expected to help the NHS recruit and retain key clinical staff in the area by offering opportunities for career development and participation in the training of medical students.
The School will have a strong focus on learning in community settings, including the primary care sector, and on working with other health professionals. Admissions policy and criteria will reflect aspirations to widen participation in medical training for high quality students.
The three Health Authority areas of North Yorkshire, East Riding and Hull, and South Humber cover a population of 1.4 million people - the largest in England not currently served by an undergraduate medical school.
The School will admit 130 trainee doctors each year. Students will spend the first two years of their training in University-based tuition - half of them in York and half in Hull - before being assigned to clinical placements in the primary, community and hospital care sectors of the three health authorities.
Doctors trained at the School will graduate with a joint degree from both universities.
The cost of running the School when fully established will be in the region of £15 million a year, with around £22 million required in 'start up' capital for facilities, nearly £10 million of which will be in the NHS and the rest at the two universities.
The announcement of the new School was welcomed by the Vice-Chancellors of the two universities and by the NHS.
Professor Ron Cooke, Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, said: "The new medical school not only provides the opportunity to enhance the national provision of doctors, but also to improve healthcare in the north of England.
"The University of York brings its established reputation of work in health policy, evidence-based medicine and clinical governance to the training of new doctors."
Dr David Drewry, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull, said: " This announcement recognises the quality of the University's activities in the related areas of postgraduate medical education, psychology, nursing, and the biological sciences.
"We shall be developing a very exciting curriculum which we believe will produce doctors for the demanding tasks of the 21st Century. I very much welcome the opportunity of working in partnership with York and the NHS."
Barrie Fisher, Chief Executive, North Yorkshire Health Authority said, "The announcement of the new medical school is a real landmark for the NHS in North Yorkshire, East Riding and Hull, and South Humber. It will mean that we are able to attract the very best people to train and work in our services in future decades and that will be a tremendous boost."
A joint board has been established by the two universities to run the new School.
Notes to editors:
- The successful bid was prepared by teams from the two universities and the NHS working closely together, under the joint chairmanship of Professor Ian Wand (York) and Vanessa Malin (Hull). The bid was submitted on 1 December and presentations were made to the NHS Regions and to a Joint Implementation Group of the HEFCE and DoH in February.
- Establishing an undergraduate medical school fulfils a long standing ambition for Hull. The University already has the largest free-standing postgraduate medical school in England - built up since 1994 in partnership with the NHS.
- York has the largest group of health policy researchers in the world and a strong reputation in science, with particular specialisms in cancer research, neuroscience and tissue repair. New capital developments in the related areas of health and public policy and in biosciences, together worth £45 million, are already underway on York's campus.