UCL Medical School welcomes West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

The aim of the visit was to explore how UCL supports education and training ensuring the highest calibre medical workforce. The NEDs met medical students who talked about their undergraduate experience at UCLMS and their plans for future medical careers.

The students gave an excellent guided tour of campus to see Jeremy Bentham, the Student Centre, the Rockefeller library as well as other highlights.
 
The visit continued with informal presentations by the four units that comprise UCL Medical School; the undergraduate MBBS, the postgraduate education unit, the Research Department of Medical Education and Centre for International Medical Education Collaborations.
 
To complete the tour the NEDs had an excellent visit to the Petrie Museum and explored the collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts.
Jonathan Rennison commented about the afternoon saying:

"The visit to UCL was excellent. We met with bright, engaged and enthusiastic medical students who are passionate about their training and becoming doctors who will make a real difference in patients' lives.

It was inspiring to hear about their learning experience at UCL and how they have been supported, nurtured and encouraged. It shows the importance of investing in high-quality education, which reinforces the importance of our teaching hospital status at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals. We want to retain and continue to support and nurture talented students like those we met at UCL. They are the life of the NHS today and for the future.

Later in the day, we met with the staff of the Medical School and heard about the work they are doing to innovate, to drive change and to be at the forefront of medical education in the UK and globally. At the heart of their approach is caring; caring for students and caring about the patients in the NHS that their trainees will go on to treat. The motivation and passion of the staff were tangible - you could feel it in their words, their tone of voice and how they spoke about their students with respect and care. A great visit that shows what great medical education looks like."

West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals (WHTH) gained formal accreditation as a teaching hospital in December 2021 in recognition of its commitment to providing the highest quality in education and training. UCL is a partner academic institution and working with the trust to ensure its ambitions for teaching hospital trust is realised.

This milestone builds on the ongoing collaboration with WHTH who supports UCLMS to deliver its undergraduate programme in medicine taking students from the 5th year providing clinical placements in Paediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology as well as hosting year 6 medical students for their district general hospital placements. 

Links:

• West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust