First Lincoln-trained doctors join NHS

Dr Miranda Ntorinkansah is one of the first graduates from Lincoln Medical School

The first doctors to be trained at Lincoln Medical School have started working in the NHS.

When the school took in its first batch of students in 2019, it was hoped it would solve the problem of attracting doctors to work in Lincolnshire.

Graduate Dr Miranda Ntorinkansah, 24, joined Lincoln County Hospital last week.

She said there were many factors for staying, including her "love for the city" and its affordability.

Dr Ntorinkansah has begun her foundation training at Lincoln County Hospital

"I thought to myself, I'm not sure why I would rush back to London when I've got everything I need here."

Dr Ntorinkansah grew up in South London and only moved to Lincoln because she did not get a place at her first-choice medical school and went through clearing.

She said: "It honestly wasn't something I'd planned, but I think the best things in life happen that way."

In July, Dr Ntorinkansah became one of the first 73 doctors to graduate from Lincoln Medical School.

Dr Ntorinkansah graduated from Lincoln Medical School in July

Last week, she started her foundation training, working in Lincoln County's cardiology department.

She said it was unlikely she would have joined United Lincolnshire Hospitals as a junior doctor if she had not studied in the county, but expects it to offer opportunities for hands-on training she would have been unlikely to get at inner-city teaching hospitals.

"Hospitals like Lincoln and Boston will help you gain independent skills quite early on, compared to tertiary centres."

"Rural medicine is not something you get to experience often, especially if you grow up or work in a big city, so we get to see different conditions that are more progressed, like diabetes and hypertension, that are common across the country."

Lincoln Medical School was established in 2018

Lincolnshire was the largest English county without a medical school until Lincoln Medical School was established in 2018.

Its first cohort of students joined in 2019 and, when they graduated last month, a handful stayed to work in the county.

Colin Farquharson, the group chief medical officer for Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group, said he was hopeful that number would grow in coming years.

"It's always been a bit of a challenge historically to be able to bring students to train in Lincolnshire," he said.

"Essentially, we want to be able to grow our own doctors in the region and to give those students a really good, helpful experience while they're here [the medical school], so they then want to stay in the area and provide care to the patients and people that live in Lincolnshire."

Follow BBC Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]