Cambridge Graduate Course

In June last year we heard that our joint bid with the University of Cambridge to boost the number of doctors in the NHS had been successful

Plans are now well underway to bring about this important development in the trust's history. The purpose of this article is to provide a news briefing as we prepare to receive the first students on the Cambridge Graduate Course (CGC) in 2001.

Johanna Finn
Chief Executive

Dr Paul Siklos
Associate Clinical Dean and Consultant Physician

January 2000

Key features of the course

• 20 places each year for a four year accelerated course

• Access to graduates of any discipline - arts, humanities or science based, who have met the premedical entry requirements.

• Community based learning opportunities

• A multi-professional education centre on the West Suffolk Hospital site

• Core medical sciences learning with the Cambridge Tripos

• Early patient contact and learning opportunities in clinical methods integral to the course

• Cambridge College support (Lucy Cavendish, Wolfson, Hughes Hall)

• A foundation for life-long learning

What is happening now?

The project is being overseen by a Steering Group comprising representatives of the University, Clinical School, Colleges, the West Suffolk community and the Trust. Jo Finn is chairman of the group which reports to the University of Cambridge Medical Education Committee.

There are four sub-groups dealing with particular parts of the project:

• West Suffolk Hospitals Trust

• Curriculum & assessment

• Graduate colleges

• GPs and community

A Cambridge Graduate Course Director based at the West Suffolk Hospital will be appointed in the near future.

What is the Trust doing now?

The course will have a significant impact on our trust and we are currently making plans to cover issues such as:

• Staff

• Teaching accommodation

• Residential accommodation

Students will be based at the West Suffolk for approximately 30% of their four-year course. To accommodate them we will establish an Education Centre and residential accommodation at an estimated cost of £1.7 million.

The trust will receive £850,000 revenue to support the teaching and running costs including an increase in the number of Consultants.

The curriculum is being developed and will determine the specialties needing additional teaching staff. Two types of posts will be developed affecting the West Suffolk Hospital, particularly:

• Course supervisors

• NHS consultant

There will be three consultant posts designated as course supervisors, each working with one of the graduate colleges and supporting the students. Each will eventually have four sessions allocated to this role. They will be Trust based.

There will be up to 60 NHS consultant sessions, to be appointed, to help with the provision of teaching to the students. They will also be West Suffolk Hospital based.

The intensive four year course takes a new approach to teaching. It enables students to follow patients who are seen in hospital into the community and their own homes.

This patient-centred approach, which will be emphasised throughout the course, will be achieved by spreading the teaching responsibility across the hospital specialties and involving local General Practitioners. Students will choose special study modules which include key public health issues.

The Education Centre funding is sufficient only to cover the accommodation for the CGC students but the Trust is exploring whether other educational facilities on site could also be integrated in the development (e.g. library, post graduate centre, lecture theatre, Suffolk College accommodation). This would enable the main learning resources to be centralised and used flexibly on a multi-disciplinary basis.

The Education Centre will provide students with high quality learning resources, serve as focus for the administration of the course and allow students to participate in the professional and social life of the hospital.

Students will be encouraged to use the latest in high-tech learning. The new residential accommodation will carry IT links which will allow students to study in their rooms. There will be the opportunity for distance learning through links with Addenbrooke's and access to international information via the Internet.

The teaching facilities will be available not only to the students but also to other disciplines working in the Trust.

The accommodation will be required by 2003 at the latest and a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) is currently being prepared for submission to the Region's Capital Reference Group when it meets in early March.

Funding for our involvement in the scheme will come from SIFT (Service Increment for Training).

What does it mean for our Trust?

The new course will bring with it substantial investment in people and facilities at the West Suffolk Hospital. We will be taking on an additional 20 graduate medical students each year in addition to the 18 whole time equivalent student doctors that we already have with us.

Our success in this bid supports one of the trust's key objectives: to excel at teaching and training and encouraging a culture of learning. Such a focus attracts a high calibre of staff to the hospital. Patients benefit as Consultants and other staff are keen to keep well informed about current best practice and latest clinical developments to be able to answer medical students' questions.

The first students are planned to arrive in autumn 2001 and from 2005 20 students will graduate from the course each year, contributing to the Government's objective to help ease the pressure in the NHS by increasing the number of doctors by 1,000 a year.

See also the previous press release: Hospital Trust to get new teaching facilities for training future doctors