20July 2018

For immediate publication

CNWL Establishes a Summer School

Being offered a place at medical school is not easy to achieve. Candidates need exceptional ‘A' levels (usually AAA grades), and an exceptional CV, which should include medical workplace experience.

CNWL's pre-medical work experience schemes quickly become over-subscribed and we want to focus on offering work experience to aspiring pre-medical students from students who might otherwise find it difficult. So we set up a summer school which would offer clinical work experience supplemented by teaching, discussion and reflection.

Our summer school went live last week and hosted five local school students. Schools were each asked to select one ‘A' level student, with the academic potential for a successful application to study Medicine, who also meets widening participation (WP) criteria.

WP is a government initiative to increase numbers of young people access higher education from under-represented groups. When selecting their student, schools were asked to focus on a number of factors like being first in family to attend university and or where family income might be a factor.

Dr Jeffrey Fehler, CNWL's Director of Clinical Studies, commented how proud he was of the summer school pilot. "We want more students from UK medical schools to consider Psychiatry as a potential career path. We think we can promote our specialty by exposing school students to Psychiatry before entering medical school," he said.

Students were offered a unique opportunity to experience a range of our clinical services including wards, clinics, junior doctor teaching programmes, memory clinics and home treatment teams.

The week concluded with a reflective teaching session facilitated by CNWL's teaching fellow Dr Ben Hall and five senior psychiatry trainees working in a range of mental health services.

Students reflected very openly about how their experiences during the week affected them emotionally. One student spoke about a patient he met from his own cultural background whose situation was "heart-breaking" and it really "hit home". Another questioned what it means to "look normal" on the streets but once inside a clinic room, everything changes.

Dr Fehler said: "I feel certain that the summer school will establish a cohort of students who are engaged with Psychiatry very early on."

He added: "It feels right to prioritise students from disadvantaged communities in our own west London patch and enhance their prospects of getting into Medicine."

For more details:

Contact: Senior Communications Officer Jeremy Dunning on 0203 214 5756 or emailJeremy.dunning@nhs.net.

With pic of the class of 2018 with Dr Fehler back right

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Stephenson House, 75 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PL
Tel: 020 3214 5756 e-mail:communications.cnwl@nhs.net