University of Leicester welcomes Sutton Trust report into medical students from working class backgrounds

The University of Leicester has welcomed a report which has highlighted the dearth of medical students from working class backgrounds in the UK.

Research published today (Thursday 27 February) by the Sutton Trust reveals only a fraction of medical students are from working class backgrounds despite efforts to widen access to the profession.

The research finds that, although the proportion of medical students from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds more than doubled since 2012, they still accounted for just 5% of entrants in 2021. In contrast, 75% were from higher socio-economic backgrounds, based on their parents’ occupation.

The University of Leicester has made significant strides to encourage disadvantaged students to take up medicine by launching its Medicine with Foundation Year course in 2017.

Dr Sam Adcock, Head of Foundation Year at the University of Leicester Medical School, said:
“We welcome the findings of The Sutton Trust report, which recommends a comprehensive and workable set of recommendations to encourage those from under-represented backgrounds to pursue medicine.

“The University of Leicester’s Medical School has been championing and supporting under-represented students for several years, and in 2017 set up the Medicine with Foundation Year course to encourage more young people from less traditional backgrounds to enter medicine.

“Classically, medical students predominantly came from more privileged backgrounds – with only 57% of schools producing any applicants to medicine. There are numerous barriers to entering into medical school, and the workforce has historically not represented the population and communities that we live in.

“By reducing some of these barriers, and instead of recruiting primarily to attainment at a certain point of life, focusing on recruiting to potential – allows a more diverse group of students to aspire and enter the medical profession and, as a consequence, enrich the diversity and perspective of our workforce.”

Dr Adcock added: “This is not about reducing quality or standards within medicine, and many students entering through widening participation pathways go on to excel academically in university and beyond – outperforming those from more traditional backgrounds. This is an important way to allow access regardless of privilege to the profession, and it enhances the learning environment for all students by exposing them to a wider range of perspectives and experiences.”

One of the first cohort’s successful graduates was Dr Harry Dudson-Musekiwa (26), who is in his first year as a doctor with the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

Harry, who grew up in a single-parent family on Leicester’s Saffron Estate, said: “I was caring for my mum and my nan when she was given a terminal cancer diagnosis so joining a medical degree felt like the last place on earth for me. But that experience of the healthcare system led me to medicine. I wanted to be a force for good, I just didn’t have all the necessary resources on hand to make it happen.

“Without the foundation year, I would not have been able to go to medical school. Once I was there, my problems didn’t stop, but the support I received from the University kept me going. I found myself rapidly going overdrawn at the start of my course, between student finance payments. Being a carer to my mum, who did not have a taxable income, meant I had additional responsibilities and pressures. I also suffered from imposter syndrome.

“But the University provided me with exemplary mental health support, pastoral support, welfare and academic support.”

The six-year Medicine with Foundation year course at the University of Leicester is one of the more established that exist in the UK. It is aimed at those who have the ambition and potential to study Medicine but whose background makes it unlikely they will be able to meet the entry requirements for the standard five-year Medicine degree. There is a strong focus on recruitment from within the East Midlands.

Funding to help establish this major new course was provided by the Stoneygate Trust, set up by Sir Will and Lady Nadine Adderley. The support provided by the Trust also included a substantial scholarship aimed at helping students with tuition fees and living costs throughout their studies.

Students may have come from areas with low participation in higher education or are the first in their family to study at university. Entry grades are slightly lower than those of the five-year Medicine degree with successful applicants requiring three grade Bs in relevant subjects, rather than straight A grades or above.

Unique in a number of ways, the course is clinically led and includes a bespoke Clinical Empathy Programme designed to nurture and grow skills in empathy from the beginning.  Its success led to the University opening the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Care, a multi-million-pound investment to put empathy at the heart of Medical Education.