List of Medical Schools in The United Kingdom

List Of Medical Schools In The United Kingdom

There are thirty-two medical schools in the United Kingdom that are recognised by the General Medical Council and from which students can obtain a medical degree. There are twenty-four such schools in England, five in Scotland, two in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. All but Warwick Medical School and Swansea Medical School offer undergraduate courses in medicine. The Bute Medical School (University of St Andrews) and Durham Medical School offer undergraduate pre-clinical courses only, with students proceeding to another medical school for clinical studies. Although Oxford University and Cambridge University offer both pre-clinical and clinical courses in medicine, students who study pre-clinical medicine at one of these universities may move to another university for clinical studies. At other universities students stay at the same university for both pre-clinical and clinical work.

The earliest place of medical training in Britain was Barts Hospital, now part of Queen Mary, University of London, where it has taken place continuously since its foundation in 1123. Medical teaching has taken place at the University of Oxford since at least the 13th century and its first Regius Professor of medicine appointed in 1546. Medical teaching began at the foundation of University of Aberdeen School of Medicine in 1495, although even as late as 1787 there were calls "for the establishment of a medical school" in Aberdeen. The University of St Andrews began teaching medicine in the late 15th century. The University of Cambridge appointed its first Regius Professor of medicine in 1540 although it is likely teaching occurred well before this date. Teaching began in 1550 at St Thomas' Hospital, London. St George's, University of London has its origins in 1733. The London Hospital Medical College (LHMC) was founded in 1785 and is now part of Queen Mary, University of London's School of Medicine. Formal medical education began in Birmingham in 1767, and in Manchester in 1814. In the early 19th century, medical schools in Belfast, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, and Liverpool were formally established, between 1821 and 1842.

The next expansion of medical schools began following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Medical Education (1965-1968) (the Todd Report), which called for the immediate establishment of new schools in Southampton, Leicester and Nottingham to aid medical education in the United Kingdom; all were built between 1970 and 1980. Medical schools at Warwick (located in the City of Coventry), Swansea, Keele (located in the City of Stoke-on-Trent) and Hull (in partnership with York) eventually opened in the 1990s and early 21st century, as well as new medical schools at University of East Anglia (located in the city of Norwich) Durham, Brighton and Sussex, and Plymouth and Exeter. Buckingham University, one of only two private universities in England, is launched a graduate entry medical school in 2010 although it offers only postgraduate MD qualifications to doctors already qualified to MBBS or equivalent and does not offer initial medical training approved by the General Medical Council. The University of Central Lancashire is expected to submit an application for a private medical school in summer 2013. However, the BMA has expressed concerns that private schools could worsen wider participation in medicine.