With two thirds of nurses and a significant proportion of other healthcare professionals considering leaving the NHS,  and reports of discontent and absences across the sector at an all-time high, a new course is seeking to keep these highly trained professionals in the NHS by offering them a new opportunity.

healthandcare.scot has been hearing from the person in charge of one Scottish university’s unique route to becoming part of the next generation of doctors, with a focus on harnessing the skills of healthcare professionals into the diverse role of a general practitioner.

Specially designed with current healthcare workers in mind, the so-called ‘HCP-Med’ course at the University of Edinburgh offers a unique route for those living and working in Scotland to become doctors.

Offered on a remote part-time basis online for the first three years, students are able to continue in their current roles in the health service across the country while upskilling and launching a career as a lead clinical decision-maker.

Dr Helen Richards, programme director, says the course is designed specially to increase the visibility and benefits of a career in general practice, as well as encourage those typically underrepresented in mainstream undergraduate medical degrees – including rural areas - to consider continuing their medical careers there. 

“We hope by introducing the longitudinal placements in general practice from the beginning that our students will be attracted towards general practice – though our students graduate with the same medical degree as any other graduate, and it is entirely up to them what they decide to do.

“These placements are in the student's home location, they're not central in Edinburgh. We're hoping that that will lead to our students wanting to practice as doctors in those locations.

“Our programme also provides a fantastic career opportunity. So, for example, if you're a nurse or a physio, and you've got to the top of your profession, what we hope is that perhaps, rather than leaving the NHS, this gives people another career path.”

And although most students come from the central belt, Dr Richards confirmed all 11 mainland NHS boards are represented in the 50-strong group of students.

Demand on Scotland’s primary care services is steadily increasing; a combination of an ageing population, growing levels of people presenting with multiple health issues and increasing patient expectations make it a challenging time to be a GP.

But much change is underway in primary care as policymakers are increasingly focused on moving healthcare out of hospitals and into the community - meaning there is more need than ever for medical generalists and those with a broad skillset to become clinical decision makers in the community.

Research shows medical students exposed to high quality general practice experience during their undergraduate years increases the chances they will go onto choose a future career in primary care, and the Scottish government has tasked medical schools to increase GP based teaching to 25% of their undergraduate curriculum – an ambitious target for some where up to 90% is delivered in secondary care.

In contrast, clinical experience during the first three years of HCP-Med is almost exclusively in general practice, giving students unparalleled insight into the role of a GP before they join the mainstream programme for the final two years.

A current first year student on the HCP-Med course, Brendan Barret, says his early GP placement has made him consider this specialism for the first time.

“Personally, I hadn’t necessarily fancied being a GP but I think seeing how they work and seeing how integral they are – they really are the frontline of medicine –has definitely caught my eye.

“The GPs I have been allocated to have been absolutely brilliant. We’ve been able to shadow GPs and there’s been other sessions where we can sit in with nurses and link workers as well so it’s been a really good breadth of experience.”

Mr Barrett, who trained as a pharmacist and has worked as a community pharmacist locum since, says the course offers a “perfect scenario” for him to retrain.

“There is a lot of dissatisfaction within the NHS, so giving people an opportunity to skill-up is massive. People can feel trapped within their role and they have that ability to be a leader within the healthcare sector; this course gives them that opportunity.

“Not everyone knows at 15/16/17 they want to be a doctor so it’s great to give people a second chance.”

The decision to apply for the course was two-fold for Susan Poots, a current second year student: not getting the grades in high school to enter medical school then and with few opportunities to progress in occupational therapy, the HCP-Med course offered her a new route.

“There are still few ways to develop your career in occupational therapy other than going into management.

“I think I was not confident enough as a younger person in my own abilities and decision making even had I got the grades required at school.”

Though HCP-Med is only in its second year, Dr Richards says tapping into this pool of health professionals, who perhaps did not have the chance to study medicine before, could offer part of a solution to tackle current issues in recruitment.

She told healthandcare.scot: “Observing the types of students that we're attracting. It seems as though we are incorporating students who perhaps didn't have a chance to do medicine straight from school.

“This course is one of the possible programmes that, in the fullness of time, it is hoped will go toward solving some of the workforce issues - but we are in the really, really early stages of this to know if that can be claimed as of yet.”

Though HCP-Med cannot solve the challenges facing recruitment and retention in NHS Scotland alone, its unique curriculum and approach to widening access perhaps offers an insight to what the future of medical training could look like.

Having that strong foundation in healthcare, where he is guided and governed by the same codes of ethics and practices, Mr Barret said, “can only help” in his future career as a doctor.

“You need to want to do it for the right reasons. It’s a lot of work and a lot of commitment, but if it’s really what you want to do it’s an absolute joy.”

The University of Edinburgh’s HCP-Med course will open for applications for its 2023 admissions in September, with the first of a series of virtual information sessions running on the 7^th of March. Email HCP-Med@ed.ac.uk for more information.

 

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