Update from Professor Una Macleod, Dean (25 March 2020)
In light of the recent press conference given by the Health Secretary, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor, I wanted to update you on the Medical School’s response to the evolving coronavirus situation.
The announcement that, from next week, final year medicine students who have met their learning outcomes will take up front-line duties in the NHS highlights the seriousness of the task that is facing us. I am proud that we, as a Medical School, are contributing to tackling this challenge, however I am conscious of the pressure that this will place upon our students.
Our aim is to produce brilliant doctors, who are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to deliver outstanding care to patients in this region and beyond. We work in partnership with our Universities and NHS trusts to ensure that we keep abreast of local workforce needs and are able to produce the kind of graduates that our NHS needs now and in the future. We recognise the increasing pressure our NHS colleagues face at this time and we are committed to supporting them. Our priority is to ensure our students are fully prepared to enter the workforce having completed the necessary training they need to safely deliver confident, compassionate and patient centred care. We are working closely with our Universities, our NHS Trusts and the General Medical Council to ensure we adhere to national guidance for the successful progress, graduation and provisional registration of our students and will provide a further update as soon as we are able.
This is a rapidly evolving situation, and we have been working closely with our NHS partners, within Public Health England and Government guidelines, to ensure the safety of our students, staff, visitors and patients. We will provide further updates to you as soon as possible.
We understand that many of our students will have queries or concerns at this time. If this is the case then please do not hesitate to contact us – our Student Support team is here to offer guidance and support in the first instance at student.support@hyms.ac.uk
As a final note, I wanted to reiterate that our goal as a Medical School has always been to produce brilliant doctors, as well as clinical and academic leaders of the future. While I am sure that none of our students imagined that it would be under these circumstances, I am confident that they will go on to make a real difference to our communities.
With best wishes,
Una
Update from Professor Una Macleod, Dean (17 March 2020)
In light of the recent press conference given by the Prime Minister, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor and the recent communication from our Universities, I wanted to update you on the Medical School’s response to the evolving coronavirus situation.
We have been working closely with our Universities and NHS partners to develop contingency plans to enable us to respond to issues which may arise as a result of the evolving coronavirus situation. We have proactively monitored and responded to guidance issued by Public Health England and the Government with the safety of our staff, students, visitors and patients as our focus.
Following the government’s latest announcement to stop non-essential contact with others and to work from home where possible our universities, after careful consideration, are now putting into place additional measures to further protect our communities. Following communication from them, I wanted to clarify what these measures mean for students at the Medical School.
After careful consideration, and following guidance from our Universities, we have decided to suspend all classroom, seminar and one to one teaching on campus with immediate effect. This includes PBL, seminars, lectures, laboratory work and clinical skills for all undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. There will be a managed transition to online learning and further information will be communicated very soon. All research student activity is being reviewed and this will also transition in the same way. Further details will follow.
As you would expect, our NHS trusts are operating under increasing pressure. As a result of this, with immediate effect, all clinical placement activity for Gateway, MB BS Medicine and Physician Associate students is suspended until further notice. We will be in touch with students affected by these changes shortly with further information.
This is an evolving situation but we, together with our NHS trusts, are committed to ensuring our students can still benefit from educational opportunities during this time to enable them to fulfil the learning outcomes needed for successful progression and graduation.
We have a large number of assessments due to take place over the coming weeks and months and it will take us time to finalise detailed plans around these. We are taking advice from our professional bodies and will provide further detail about individual assessments to our students as soon as we are able.
Many of our staff will now be working from home where practical. However, students will still be able to access our Programme Delivery colleagues, and student support teams in the usual way.
These are unprecedented times and we ask for your understanding as we develop our response and take the actions needed to respond to this evolving situation. We are focused on the safety of our students, staff, visitors and patients and are committed to ensuring members of our community receive the most up to date information and guidance. We would like to thank members of our community for the support they have shown and continue to show during this time.
UK Coronavirus Action Plan
The Government have published (3 March 2020) a guide to what you can expect across the UK - which includes the following advice:
- follow public health authorities' advice, for example on hand washing
- reduce the spread of misinformation by relying on trusted sources, eg the NHS, Public Health England and the Government website
- follow the latest Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice
- use NHS 111 (including online, where possible), pharmacies and GPs responsibly, and only go to hospital if you really need to.
- check for new advice as the situation changes
Find out more about the action plan.
As the situation surrounding the coronavirus continues to evolve we recommend members of our community to check and follow latest advice from Public Health England, the NHS and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
You can find further information from our Universities: University of Hull and University of York.