February 21, 2022 3.33 pm This story is over 25 months old

First student doctors from £21m Lincoln Medical School arriving in county hospitals

The medical school aims to tackle doctor shortage

The entrance at the new Lincoln Medical School. | Photo: Shradha Mishra

The first students from Lincoln’s £21m medical school will soon be arriving at the county’s hospitals to put their skills to practice on the frontline of the NHS.

The 80 third year medical students from the University of Lincoln, who are the first doctors to train in Lincoln, are gearing up to get hands-on experience at Lincoln County Hospital and Pilgrim Hospital, Boston.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) is providing ‘secondary care clinical placements’ for the students from the end of February, in a collaboration between the University of Lincoln and the University of Nottingham.

The first phase of Lincoln students will be training alongside the existing cohort of students from Nottingham who are due to finish their training in 2023 – then after this date all student intakes will be from Lincoln Medical School.

It is hoped the new medical school in Lincoln will address future projected shortages of doctors by encouraging graduates to complete their junior doctor training locally and apply for jobs in the region.

The numbers of students coming to Lincolnshire’s hospitals will increase over the next two years as part of the planned increase to the government cap on medical school places.

A full look at the impressive living wall, complete with solar panels too. | Photo: Shradha Mishra

Paul Dunning, deputy medical director and director of medical education at ULHT, said: “We are really excited to be welcoming the first cohort of Lincoln Medical School students to our hospitals.

“We pride ourselves on our ‘one Trust’ ethos, our friendly working environment and the exciting, and fulfilling learning and development opportunities we offer our staff.

“We know that our success in developing and continually improving efficient and financially sustainable services is due to the commitment, skills and compassion of our staff and hope you are all looking forward to welcoming medical students into the Trust for their clinical placements.”

And Professor Danny McLaughlin, Associate Dean of medicine at the University of Lincoln, said the medical school would serve the people of Lincolnshire for generations to come.

He said: “With our partners at the University of Nottingham, we have created a medical degree programme that provides an excellent student learning experience, an inclusive and caring environment, and an even greater number of outstanding medical graduates for the National Health Service.

“Creating a medical school for Lincolnshire has been an aspiration for many years and we are now realising that goal. It’s something the whole community can be proud of, and which will serve the people of Lincolnshire for generations to come.”