Over the last few months the Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) has hosted open days for potential new doctors.
The two events, based at both the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University’s Canterbury campuses, welcomed just over 300 aspiring doctors with nearly 50% of those attending coming from Kent and Medway.
In March 2018 the Government and Health Education England announced that a joint bid by Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent to establish a medical school had been successful, making the KMMS the first ever medical school for Kent and Medway.
Bringing together the existing centres of excellence in health and medical education provided by the two universities, and local healthcare organisations, the new medical school aims to be an essential part of the solution to the challenge of recruiting and retaining medical professionals for the region.
The Founding Dean of the KMMS, Professor Chris Holland, said: ‘It was wonderful to meet so many potential doctors of the future. It will be so exciting to welcome our first group of students in September 2020. It is events like this that will make our vision to become Kent and Medway’s first medical school become a reality.
‘We believe the medical school will play a unique and supportive role for the NHS in Kent and Medway and help to address some of the issues the region has with attracting and retaining medical professionals by offering training and development opportunities. It is so encouraging to see that nearly 50% of potential students who visited our two open days came from Kent and Medway as we want to ensure that our local, talented students have access to medical training and education.’
The medical school will open in September 2020, offering 100 undergraduate medical places on a yearly basis. The five year undergraduate programme will be taught at the Canterbury campuses of both university partners with medical placements within Primary, Community and Secondary Care across Kent and Medway.