Magee Medical School: What will happen next?

The medical school is to be housed in Magee's MB building

Plans to train doctors in Londonderry have had their share of false dawns.

But now, the proposed medical school at Ulster University's Magee campus has been given a fresh impetus.

An intake of 70 students will start training at the Londonderry campus next year, deputy first Minister Michelle O'Neill announced on Monday.

Executive approval has been long awaited for a project years in the making. So what needs to happen now to see the school open its doors in 2021?

How did we get here?

The only medical school in Northern Ireland at present is at Queen's University in Belfast (QUB). About 270 doctors graduate each year.

The Magee school has long been lobbied for - both to address a shortage of doctors and, as part of university expansion plans in Derry to spark an economic regeneration of the north west.

Based in the MB building at Magee, the school will offer a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree programme.

There have been start dates before - it was to open in 2019 and again in 2020 .

A medical student shortfall looms in Northern Ireland, according to a report published earlier this year

Neither date was met, Ulster University (UU) said, because of the collapse of Northern Ireland's devolved government.

But funding concerns have also been raised previously.

"We cannot spend money we do not have", the head of the NI Civil Service David Sterling warned last year.

On Monday, Ms O'Neill did not give any detail of how the executive plans to support the school financially.

That prompted SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, the city's MP, to call for further detail and "absolute clarity".

"I don't want to be negative, it's very good we got this far, but people of this city are war-weary to get Magee expanded; we need more clarity and we need more detail," Mr Eastwood told BBC Radio Foyle.

So, where is the money coming from?

Just two days after the deputy first minister announced a 2021 start date, her ministerial colleague in NI's economy department was warning that the path ahead would not be easy.

Diane Dodds told a Stormont committee on Wednesday that "there is a significant amount of work to do in relation to the issues around capacity of Ulster University and the financial position of Ulster University".

"But we have set ourselves on a pathway and we are working quite hard on that," Mrs Dodds said.

"There will be further papers to the executive on that in due course."

The BBC asked the Executive Office to detail its funding commitments to the medical school - both in terms of initial costs and recurring running costs.

In response, an Executive Office spokesman said: "Further work is being undertaken to secure a sustainable outcome for the project within the fastest possible timescales.

"Plans are being progressed that would allow an initial student intake of 70 in September 2021 and the executive will consider this issue again next month."

He added: "This is an important project for the north west that will bring significant benefits to the region."

Ulster University wanted to welcome the first student intake in 2019

There is money in the pot, however.

Millions of pounds have been allocated to the school and to wider university expansion in Derry via the £105m Derry and Strabane city deal announced in May 2019.

Some £55m has been allocated to an inclusive future fund for the region. From this fund, £30m capital investment has been proposed to help finance the medical school.

And in May this year Stormont announced it would match the city deal funding - bringing the city deal funds for the north west to £210m.

Locating the school in Derry "will be a catalyst in the innovation corridor to be established as part of the city deal," a university spokeswoman said.

She added it is "central to expanding the university's existing health professions portfolio in the city and to realising the full potential of the wider city region".

What happens next?

Now, the school's stalled accreditation process - having the school approved to train doctors by the General Medical Council (GMC) - resumes.

There are eight accreditation stages for UU to pass before it is granted a licence by the GMC.

"With the announcement from the executive, Ulster University will now work with the GMC to progress to stage six," an Ulster University spokeswoman said.

"All potential new medical schools follow the same, rigorous, approval process," Prof Colin Melville, Medical Director and Director of Education and Standards at the GMC told BBC News NI.

He added: "The next stage will consider whether the new school is on track to admit students from September 2021.

"That decision is due later this summer."

Prof Louise Dubras was appointed to oversee the delivery of the medical school

UU appointed Prof Louise Dubras as professor and foundation dean of the school of medicine in May 2018.

"Without the General Medical Council saying they are satisfied that we can start to recruit students, we can't do that," Prof Dubras told BBC Radio Foyle this week.

"The GMC want to see long-term funding, there is no point in them committing to a medical school that only has a lifespan of 10 years."

But she is confident.

"We are ready to take those students and I am not worried," she added.