Promoting general practice in medical schools. Where are we now?

ABSTRACT

In November 2016, the Medical Schools Council and Health Education England published a joint report chaired by Professor Val Wass: ‘By choice – not by chance’ to raise the profile of general practice as a positive career choice for medical students.

We sought to evaluate the impact of the report by firstly, asking the views of Heads of GP teaching at UK medical schools whether and how the report has supported them in raising the profile of general practice and secondly, describing the initiatives developed by medical schools in a national survey. There was a perception reported by heads of GP teaching that the report has been highly influential in facilitating the promotion of general practice as a career to medical students. We describe multiple specific initiatives developed in response to the report’s recommendations. The national survey confirmed that whilst there is significant variation across medical schools in their response to the specific recommendations in the report, definite progress is being made. A number of areas that need particular consideration have been highlighted and we would recommend that future surveys are completed at appropriate time intervals to review further progress.

KEYWORDS:

• Undergraduate education
• general practice
• career choice

Authors’ Contribution

Heads of GP teaching at all of the participating 36 medical schools contributed to the authorship of the paper through discussions at HoTs meetings to agree on the idea and content of the survey, completion of data collection, and review and opportunity to comment on drafts of the paper. Contributors were John McKeown (Aberdeen); Nigel Hart (Belfast); Kirsty Shires (Birmingham); Duncan Shrewsbury (Brighton and Sussex); Greg Simons (Buckingham); Trevor Thompson (Bristol); Richard Darnton (Cambridge); Frances Gerrard (Cardiff); Maggie Bartlett (Dundee); Karen Fairhurst (Edinburgh); Alex Harding (Exeter); Lindsey Pope (Glasgow); Kevin Anderson (Hull York); Jo Protheroe (Keele); Euan Lawson (Lancaster); Jane Kirby (Leeds); Rodger Charlton (Leicester); Matt James (Liverpool); Sonia Kumar (London Imperial); Anne Stephenson (London Kings); Will Spiring (London QMUL); Adrian Brown (London SGUL); Joe Rosenthal (London UCL); Rachel Lindley (Manchester); Hugh Alberti (Newcastle); Jaspal Taggar (Nottingham); Julian Hancock (Oxford); Richard Perrett (Plymouth); Jon Dowell (ScotGEM); Rebecca Walmsley (St Andrews); Ben Jackson (Sheffield); Deborah Rose (Southampton); Llinos Roberts (Swansea); Jim Gardener (UCLan); Dickie Young (UEA); and Sue Davies (Warwick).

Acknowledgments

Thanks to all members of staff at the participating medical schools who assisted in data collection of the survey. Thank you also to the reviewers for their very helpful suggestions.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was granted by Newcastle University Ethics Committee (Ref: 7432/2018).

Disclosure statement

The authors have declared no competing interests.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.