In addition to your first degree, all applicants to the MB ChB programme are required to meet additional conditions before being registered on the course.

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General Medical Council (GMC) and Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) Information for Applicants

Postgraduate Foundation Training and Beyond

The GMC is introducing the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) from 2024 to demonstrate that those who obtain registration with a licence to practice medicine in the UK meet a common threshold for safe practice. Applicants should be aware that to obtain registration with a licence to practise, medical students will need to pass both parts of the MLA and demonstrate their fitness to practise. The MLA will be in two parts: there will be a knowledge test, which will be set nationally but delivered at the medical school and a clinical assesment, delivered by medical schools, that will evaluate students' clinical and professional skills. You can find out more about the MLA for UK students at https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/medical-licensing-assessment

Provisional registration is time limited to a maximum of three years and 30 days (1125 days in total). After this time period your provisional registration will normally expire. Provisionally registered doctors can only practise in approved Foundation Year One posts: the law does not allow provisionally registered doctors to undertake any other type of work. To obtain a Foundation Year One post you will need to apply during the final year of your undergraduate programme though the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme, which allocates these posts to graduates on a competitive basis. All suitably qualified UK graduates have found a place on the Foundation Year One programme, but this cannot be guaranteed, for instance if there were to be an increased number of competitive applications from non-UK graduates.

Successful completion of the Foundation Year One programme is normally achieved within 12 months and is marked by the award of a Certificate of Experience. You will then be eligible to apply for full registration with the General Medical Council. You need full registration with a licence to practise for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice in the UK.

There is some discussion about whether to remove provisional registration for newly qualified doctors.

If this happens then UK graduates will receive full registration as soon as they have successfully completed an MB ChB (or equivalent) degree. It should be noted that it is very likely that UK graduates will still need to apply for a training programme similar to the current Foundation Programme and that places on this programme may not be guaranteed for every UK graduate.

Although this information is currently correct, students need to be aware that regulations in this area may change from time to time.

The GMC’s Achieving good medical practice can help you as a student understand what is expected of you during your studies, and what will be expected of you later as a practising doctor.

Communicable disease status and immunisations

Vaccination against Hepatitis B is a fundamental professional requirement for registration on a medical degree. All medical students are currently required to provide evidence of vaccination against Hepatitis B and a pathology report to provide verification of recent Hepatitis B surface antibody level or surface antigen status.

This is because immunising medical students against Hepatitis B and testing their response protects both the student and their patients against the risk of contracting Hepatitis B in the health care setting. Accordingly, Warwick Medical School requires all prospective medical students to provide proof that they have satisfactorily completed a full course of immunisation against the Hepatitis B virus.

All students will be subject to occupational health clearance by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Occupational Health Services on commencement of training.

1. The Department of Health has issued guidance requesting that all new Health Care Workers, including students, must be tested for HIV, Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B carriers status before first involvement in exposure prone activities (EPP) e.g. operating theatres, Renal haemodialysis, Accident and Emergency pre-hospital trauma
2. Although the GMC says EPP experience is no longer necessary to qualify and so not a curriculum requirement, students are still likely to meet the opportunity to get involved
3. To be cleared for EPP involvement students will have to be tested to establish that they are not infected with Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, or HIV. This is additional to tests to establish tuberculosis status required to clear the student for general patient contact. All testing must be managed by the WMS Occupational Health Specialist who will supervise pre- and post-test counselling and discussions, the performance of the tests and the recording of outcomes, to ensure conformance with standards for clearance of all health care workers
4. You will also be required to have had all the national vaccination programme immunisations, for example tetanus, polio, MMR/Rubella, BCG, Diphtheria and Varicella (Chicken Pox).

5. Covid vaccination remains the most effective way to protect yourself and your patients from Covid-19 and we strongly recommend that all students are fully vaccinated.

MSC's Medical and dental students: Health clearance for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV and Tuberculosis

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

As part of ensuring the fitness to practise of our students, all successful applicants to the course will be required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), payable by the applicant. This is a UK legal requirement for those in roles which involve regulated activity and universities who offer courses involving contact with children or vulnerable adults are required to carry out DBS checks of potential students.

Any information which comes as part of the disclosure will be treated in confidence and handled in a fair and transparent way. The disclosure of a previous conviction would not necessarily preclude an applicant from enrolling on the course. Further information is available on the DBS website.

Fitness to Practise (FTP)

WMS has a duty to ensure that the students it accepts onto the MB ChB are fit to practise medicine and that the General Medical Council (GMC) will allow them to provisionally register once they have graduated. “Fitness” implies that the individual is physically and psychologically capable of the practice of medicine, that there is no significant current or spent criminal record and that they behave professionally at all times.

A condition of an offer of a place to study medicine at Warwick Medical School is to declare any and all, past or current, health, welfare and conduct issues that may affect an individual's fitness to study medicine and practise as a doctor following successful completion of the course. The purpose of the declaration is so that the School and University can support students in successfully completing their course and help to prevent health and conduct issues becoming more serious and a greater cause for concern. If an offer holder has nothing to declare, then this part of the process is complete. If a declaration is made, it will be considered by the WMS Health, Welfare and Professionalism Group, which acts as the low-level professionalism committee established in line with GMC/MSC Guidance and is recognised as best practice amongst all medical schools. Its supportive role is to determine whether the threshold of student fitness to practise may have been reached. Offer holders will receive written feedback once a declaration has been reviewed. Where it is considered that the threshold has not been reached, a declaration will be signed off as no further action but may include recommendations such as seeking support from the University’s Wellbeing Support Services. Where it is considered that the threshold may have been reached, the offer holder will be referred to the University Fitness to Practise Committee, which may also include a request for additional information. Offer holders are also required to complete an Occupational Health form for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Occupational Health Department, and, as a result, may be invited to attend an assessment by an Occupational Health Advisor / Physician. The aim of this is to determine whether any reasonable adjustments may be required to facilitate successful completion of the course.

General Medical Council's (GMC) Medical students: professionalism and fitness to practise

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HEOPS guidance on medical students; standards of medical fitness to train .

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