The first private medical school since the 19th century will be taking students within three years, the University of Buckingham predicted today.
The small private university is launching it for an estimated £5m - a fraction of the cost of medical schools in public universities - confident that there are plenty of families in the UK and overseas prepared to pay fees of at least £10,000 a year to become doctors.
The 100 student a year intake will be graduates rather than school and college leavers - about half from the UK - and they will follow an intensive three and a half year course.
Professor Terence Kealey, Buckingham's vice-chancellor and a medic himself, said practical work with patients would be provided at private hospitals in London as well as NHS hospitals in Buckinghamshire.
Today Buckingham announced the appointment of a leading cancer specialist, Professor Karol Sikora, of Imperial College, as the head elect of its medical school, to lead a £500,000 feasibility study. Helen Nellis, professor of health governance at Buckingham and chairman of Bedfordshire acute hospital trust, will chair the medical school development board.
But even with these respected names aboard, Professor Kealey admits that everything now hinges on the General Medical Council giving the go-ahead for the degree course and allowing Buckingham graduates to practice medicine in the UK. He pointed to concerns raised in the Wanless report on the NHS, which predicted a shortfall of 25,000 doctors in Britain by 2022.
Buckingham is piggybacking on preparatory work done by the Open University which decided in the end not to go ahead with a medical degree. Two OU professors, Michael Stewart and Janet Grant, are joining Buckingham to design a one-year distance-learning course in biosciences and clinical skills so students can get up to speed while living at home and earning before embarking on the expensive full-time course.
Professor Kealey said a lot of doctors and teachers wanted to work independently of the constraints of the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills. "[The course] is going to focus on the patient as a person, getting away from medicine as an expression of biological science. The patient will be at the core of everything," he said. The university would adapt an off-the-shelf curriculum, possibly from an Australian university, rather than developing its own from scratch.
Professor Silora and Professor Nellis now have to come up with a plan that will convince philanthropists or a city institution to come up with the £5m which the university estimates it will need.
"This is a very exciting concept that will dramatically diversify medical school entry," said Professor Sikora. "Motivation, determination and ability are the keys. People who have been successful in one area - academic, business or providing a service - are likely to be very good doctors if they are prepared to work hard. Our school will strongly focus on the patient with choice, respect and care being more than just slogans.
"There is a huge planning task ahead before we take our first students, but I really believe the time has come for a new approach to medical education.
"Our preliminary discussions with the General Medical Council have been extremely positive and we will ensure that our students are trained to the very highest standards. We are examining several funding options to create a truly unique environment."
