Students have enrolled on the UK’s first fast-track medical degree for healthcare professionals seeking to retrain as doctors.
King’s College London has opened its doors for its Healthcare Entry Medicine (HEM) degree. The new full-time, four-year accelerated programme provides medical training for clinical professionals who have worked in the NHS for at least two years – including nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, paramedics and physician associates.
The course creates a dedicated route into medicine for experienced healthcare professionals who may not meet the entry requirements for traditional five or six year medical degrees, or would need to compete for highly sought-after graduate-entry programmes not tailored to their experience.
The programme responds to the wider ambitions of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to grow and strengthen the medical workforce, while creating a more accessible route into the profession. King’s is now the only UK university to offer five distinct routes into medicine, making it one of the most inclusive and diverse medical education providers in the country.
Students will benefit from existing teaching and facilities at King’s, and resources for current medical students, such as King’s Simulation and Interactive Learning Centre (SaIL) – state of the art training facilities providing clinical skills teaching and simulation in a risk-free environment.
Strong connections with hospitals in the Southeast and central London, including Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and a network of 350 affiliated general practices will also provide tailored education and the development of transferable skills for experienced clinicians, enabling progression into medicine after completing the course. Building on students’ existing clinical experience, the programme is designed to further develop their knowledge and skills, in laboratory practicals, workshops, and case study-based learning.
We’re delighted to have welcomed the first students to this course – the first of its kind in the UK. The programme creates a new route into medicine, making the transition more accessible while valuing and building on the rich experience our students already bring. With bespoke modules and a curriculum shaped around their needs and strengths, they will learn alongside peers who share this distinctive journey, while being fully integrated into student life at King’s. It has been wonderful to welcome this first cohort who will undoubtedly enrich our wider learning community.
Dr Liza Kirtchuk, who is leading the new Healthcare Entry Medicine programme
The first cohort of students includes Fintan McCarthy, who was working as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital when he applied.
Fintan said: “I worked in a variety of different areas, including orthopaedics and A&E. I always found myself drawn to the problem-solving aspects of medicine. It was always something I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to do, and so when I saw this course, I thought it was an unbelievable opportunity.
“I always knew from a young age I wanted to help people. I was drawn to the doctor’s role, helping people by treating the disease, the problem-solving and clinical reasoning side of it. I found it really interesting looking at a patient’s symptoms and making clinical decisions based on that. It’s something I wanted to develop myself through being part of this course and becoming a doctor.
“I’m particularly excited to learn about emergency medicine, something where I’ve done work before, and you don’t know what’s coming through the door – you have a huge variety of illnesses and conditions to treat.”
Qualified Nurse Fintan, Healthcare Entry Medicine student
Timi Adepitan, who qualified as a physician associate in 2021, working in general practice, said: “As a physician associate, I felt like I was in a position where I wanted to be able to do more, to expand my knowledge and get more responsibility. Qualifying as a doctor felt like the best next step. I wasn’t 100% sure on how I was going to do it initially, and then I saw this course last year and thought it was perfect, so I applied.
“I’m most looking forward to being with course mates in the same position, from a healthcare background. I’m looking forward for us being part of the journey together in such a small group. I’m also really looking forward to clinical placements because I trained as a physician associate during covid, so our placements were limited.”
Emily Green, who qualified as an adult nurse four years ago, working in intensive care at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, added: “The thought of becoming a doctor had been trickling through my mind since I was young but I never really had the confidence to apply. As this course was the first of its kind, I thought it was perfect and also bespoke to healthcare professionals like me. I thought I might as well apply and I managed to get a place! It will be really nice to study alongside people with a mutual understanding of the healthcare environment. I’m also really looking forward to the anatomy part of the course and dissection – it’s not something I was exposed to in nursing.”
By broadening and deepening our students’ training across the medical sciences, King’s will support the development of multifaceted doctors who bring diverse and valuable experience into the profession. As the first programme of its kind in the UK, it reflects King’s longstanding leadership in medical education and its commitment to broadening access, enriching the medical workforce and creating innovative pathways into the profession.
Professor James Galloway, Associate Dean for Medical Education and Director of GKT, at Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
The new Healthcare Entry Medicine course addresses King’s commitment to deliver the skills, research and innovation required for the future of health and life sciences, as outlined in Strategy 2030. The programme builds on King’s strong medical education foundations, as the first UK institution to introduce a dedicated widening access to medicine programme.
Find out more about Healthcare Entry Medicine MBBS: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/healthcare-entry-medicine-mbbs