Medicine (Graduate Entry), MBBCH

5th in the UK for Medicine

(The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024)

Students Learning Medicine

Course Overview

**New for 2025: UCAT - Please refer to 'Admissions Tests' for full details** 

Our Graduate Entry Medicine programme is unique in Wales and one of just a handful of similar programmes of medical study in the UK open to graduates of any discipline from the UK, EU and overseas.

This accelerated, four-year medical degree follows an innovative, integrated spiral curriculum designed to reflect the way in which clinicians approach patients and how patients present to doctors.

You will study the basic biomedical sciences in the context of clinical medicine, public health, pathology, therapeutics, ethics, and psycho-social issues in patient management.

Together with a strong focus on clinical and communication skills, you will develop the academic, practical, and personal qualities to practise medicine competently and with confidence.

Our entry interview process is structured to take account of these qualities needed as a doctor, as set out in ‘Good Medical Practice’, and the capacity to meet the outcomes of ‘Outcomes for Graduates’. In summary:

  • Communication skills
  • Problem solving skills
  • Coping with pressure
  • Insight and integrity
  • Passion for medicine/resilience to succeed
  • Organisation and research
  • Ethics and values

 

Why Medicine at Swansea?

We are a small medical school with around 150 spaces, so you will benefit from extensive contact with teaching staff and you will have contact with patients right from the first term.

If you speak Welsh, you can study a 50-credit ‘Doctor as Professional’ module in each year through the medium of Welsh and may be eligible for internal scholarships or financial support through Coleg Cymraeg.

If you are not a Welsh speaker but would like to gain some basic Welsh language skills geared toward healthcare settings, then you can enroll on our unique Welsh for Medicine courses. 

Your Medicine Experience

 The Graduate Entry Medicine programme is an intensive and diverse combination of taught components on campus including:

  • Lectures
  • Tutorials
  • Anatomy and Clinical Skills

Clinical Placements will take place at NHS sites including hospitals, GP surgeries and community health facilities.

 

Medicine Employment Opportunities

On successful completion of the course, you will graduate with an MBBCh degree from Swansea University, allowing you to progress to the UK Foundation Programme for newly qualified doctors, where you will begin training in a clinical environment.

You can find more information on our Medicine degrees by visiting our Quick Guide. 

Modules

The Programme consists of Phase I (Years 1 + 2) and Phase II (Years 3 + 4).  Each year is mapped onto the GMC’s Outcomes for Graduates (2018) where 3 Modules reflect the outcome areas:

  • Scholar and Scientist
  • Practitioner
  • Professional

Phase I

Learning Weeks (Case based, includes Integrated Clinical Method)

Community-Based Learning (CBL) in General Practice for one day every fourth or fifth week

LOCS - Learning Opportunities in the Clinical Setting

LORS – Learning Opportunities in a Research Setting

Early Apprenticeships (1-3)

Phase II

Case of the Week (Case Based Learning Weeks)

Clinical Apprenticeships and Assistantships(Medicine, Surgery and Primary Care) (4-8) including 8 weeks in CBL

Specialty Attachments– Eight 5 Week placements in Medicine (at Singleton, Morriston and Prince Phillip Hospitals), Acute Surgery,  Women’s Health, Child Health, Mental Health, Sub-Specialities of Medicine and Surgery, and Frailty.  These include Integrated Clinical Method and simulation.

Elective in Year 4 (5 Week Clinical Placement mostly taken overseas)

Senior Assistantship / Shadowing period at end of Year 4 prior to F1 (5 Week Clinical Placement where students “shadow” F1 doctors in their allocated post in Wales or join the all-Wales ‘shadow’ programme)

Medicine (Graduate Entry), MBBCH