Robin Swann seeks £18m for extra QUB medical students
- Published
More students have the grades needed to study medicine at Queen's University Belfast this year
Health Minister Robin Swann is seeking about £18m from the executive to pay for a rise in university places for medical students, the BBC understands.
Funding for about 80 extra places at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) over the next two years is being sought.
That would increase the number of medical places at QUB by around 30% by September 2021.
The Department of Health said there was "a need to resolve this matter as soon as possible".
The Department of Finance said it was working with the relevant departments to understand the funding required and offer numbers and acceptances.
"Once this clarity is provided, this will then go to the Executive for urgent consideration," a spokesperson added.
Increasing demand
BBC News NI understands the additional £18m being sought would be spent over a number of years rather than in 2020/21 alone.
A previous review of medical places said Northern Ireland needed at least 100 more medical students a year to meet the increasing demand for doctors.
That review, published in 2019, said there was a "shortage of doctors working in permanent positions" as GPs, non-consultant doctors and consultants.
The medical degree at Queen's is a five-year course which includes a number of placements in hospitals and general practices.
Students completing the degree can then register as a doctor with the General Medical Council (GMC).
They then undertake a two-year foundation training programme before they begin to work as GPs or specialists.
The Department of Health (DoH) normally funds about 230 places for new medical students at Queen's each year.
An additional 80 places over two years would increase that number to more than 300 by September 2021.
Queen's are understood to need 30 extra places immediately and 50 in September 2021.
However, due to the time a medical degree takes to complete the extra places would only begin to address the shortfall in doctors in Northern Ireland in the medium term.
A-level results
BBC News NI understands that Queen's University is seeking some of the extra places due to the changes to A-level results in 2020.
It has meant that more students have the grades required to be admitted to study medicine at QUB.
Some, though, may have to defer starting their medical degree until 2021.
Queen's says it is working with Stormont to find a solution to the places shortfall
A graduate medical school at Ulster University's Magee campus is also recruiting 70 students to begin a four-year medical degree course in 2021.
BBC News NI also understands the DoH is also seeking a smaller amount of executive funding to increase the number of nursing and midwifery places at QUB and Ulster University in 2020.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said it had "requested executive funding for additional medical, nursing and Allied Health Professional student places".
"We are very mindful of the need to resolve this matter as soon as possible," the department said.
In a statement to BBC News NI, QUB said its first priority was to students and applicants.
"We are acutely aware of the uncertainty that a number of our medicine applicants are continuing to face," they said.
"We are working constructively and collaboratively with relevant government departments to reach a solution as quickly as possible."
- Published11 January 2019
