Brighton and Sussex Medical School
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| Established | 2002 |
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| Type | Medical school |
| Dean | Prof Jonathan Cohen |
| Undergraduates | 550 |
| Location | Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom |
| Typical Offer | AAB, |
| Affiliations | University of Sussex and University of Brighton |
| Website | http://www.bsms.ac.uk |
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) is one of the new medical schools in the UK. It is a partnership between the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex. BSMS benefits from the universities’ distinctive traditions and shared strengths in biomedical sciences, healthcare and professional education. The school gained its license in 2002. It admits 136 students per year with all of them being based for the first two years on the split campus at Falmer.
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[edit] An Introduction to The Medical School
BSMS is one of four new medical schools to have been created recently as part of the UK government’s strategy of increasing the number of qualified doctors from the UK working in the NHS.
The first intake of students began their five-year medical degree programmes in September 2003. Since then, it has become one of the most popular new schools in the country. According to UCAS, 2005 saw BSMS as the most competitive medical school to gain a place at, with over 25 applications per place.
[edit] Falmer
The University of Sussex is situated in Falmer, just out of Brighton. It has direct pedestrian access into the planned South Downs National Park, long recognised as an area of outstanding natural beauty. It is very well served by local transport. In addition to good bus services, it has its own rail station with services to central Brighton (8 minutes) and the nearby county town of Lewes.
From Brighton, London is just 51 minutes away by train and Gatwick Airport 30 minutes.
[edit] Teaching
The curriculum is a careful blend of the best of new and traditional teaching methods, with firm foundations on the established strengths of the two universities in educating and training health professionals and in science teaching and research. The University of Brighton provides professional aspects of the course through its faculties of health, sciences and engineering, while Sussex provides biological science teaching.
The medical school requires human dissection of cadavers as a compulsory part of the course. This means the course is far more clinically based than that of other medical schools, especially the other new medical schools. Indeed, it is the only new medical school to use no PBL (problem based learning) at all; as such, it is in the minority even among established medical schools.
Professor Jon Cohen, Dean of BSMS, is pleased with the School's progress. 'Students tell us that they are attracted by the small size of the classes, the friendly and supportive atmosphere, the modern and innovative curriculum and the brand new facilities. We are establishing BSMS as a first choice place to study medicine.'
Having not only appointed a highly-esteemed faculty with established research and teaching expertise, the school also maximises on the special skills and experience of local health professionals through its strong ties with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust.
BSMS is the first medical school in the UK to integrate personal digital assistants (PDAs) into undergraduate teaching.
[edit] The intercalated degree
Subject to performance, students may be offered the opportunity to study subjects of their choice in greater depth by taking an intercalated BSc degree in Medical Science. This is taken between the third and fourth years of your BM BS studies and provides the necessary academic background for those who wish to embark on a career combining medical practice with medical research. It is possible to transfer to undertake the degree and then return to complete the medical course at BSMS.
[edit] Entry Requirements
All BSMS candidates are expected to be able to demonstrate high academic ability. Candidates considered at interview to show exceptional potential may receive offers at a slightly lower level than those indicated below. Applicants normally need three A levels and must have studied both Biology and Chemistry to AS level and at least one of these subjects to A level. General Studies is not included.
Most standard offers are now conditional on gaining 340 UCAS points in three A levels. A minority of conditional offers will be made at 320 UCAS points to candidates considered to demonstrate exceptional potential at interview.
As of 2006 entry, applicants are required to take the UKCAT (UK Clinical Aptitude Test). Information about the test and preparation can be found at UKCAT
[edit] Faculty
BSMS is administered jointly by the Universities of Brighton and Sussex, and works closely with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The School occupies its own state-of-the-art teaching facilities at the two universities’ adjacent sites in Falmer.
The main teaching and lecture buildings are located on the campus of the University of Sussex with a second facility housing clinical labs, another lecture theatre and most of the medical school's clinical facilities on the Brighton campus in Mayfield House. The accommodation is split between the Falmer campus of the University of Brighton, and the University of Sussex.
The two purpose-built teaching facilities for medicine at Falmer provide tutorial and seminar rooms, lecture theatres, clinical science laboratories and IT resource suites. Fully-equipped consultation rooms, identical to those used in GP surgeries and hospital out-patients departments, provide a setting in which to learn history-taking and examination. These are sited close to a clinical skills training area which also houses an advanced patient simulator, computer-controlled to represent normal and abnormal physiology and a realistic response to drugs.
[edit] Buildings of the Medical School
[edit] Teaching Building
- at University of Sussex campus
Facilities: Lecture theatre, dedicated PC suite, teaching/seminar rooms, anatomy laboratory, café.
[edit] Research Building
- at University of Sussex campus
Facilities: fully equipped research laboratories, write-up areas, offices.
[edit] Mayfield House
- at University of Brighton, Falmer campus
Facilities: Lecture theatre, PC suite, teaching/seminar rooms, clinical skills suite, café.
Also located at Falmer are the Postgraduate Medical School and large biomedical science and health psychology research laboratories that have been recognised in successive HEFCE research assessment exercises as achieving international standards of excellence.
[edit] Emerton Building
-at Royal Sussex County Hospital
Facilities: Education centre and library
[edit] Sussex Education Centre
-at Mill View Hospital, Hove
Facilities: Lecture and seminar rooms, IT facilities and library, offices
[edit] Euan Keat Education Centre
- at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath
Facilities: Lecture theatre, seminar rooms, offices
[edit] Teaching Hospitals
A purpose-built Medical Education Centre for third- and fourth-year students is located at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. The clinical placements are served in the teaching hospitals throughout the south-east, including many in Kent, and all Sussex hospitals, such as the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
[edit] The Royal Sussex County Hospital
In years 3 and 4 students are be based at the new Audrey Emerton education centre at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. An education centre and library at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, it was opened by Baroness Audrey Emerton in 2005.
This provides comprehensive learning facilities including a wide-ranging health library, IT resources, pathology facilities, a clinical skills training area and teaching rooms for large and small group study.
Direct audio-visual links will be established between a number of teaching areas in the Emerton and ‘live’ clinical facilities including operating theatres.
Students will undertake a range of clinical placements, mainly at the Royal Sussex but extending into other trust and primary care settings. The University Hospitals NHS Trust provides a full range of clinical specialties with major centres in cardiology/cardiovascular surgery, cancer, renal dialysis, neurosurgery and HIV medicine.
[edit] The Brighton General Hospital
[edit] The Princess Royal Hospital
The Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, is part of the Brigton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust. It is situated in the heart of Mid Sussex and the hospital enjoys far reaching views over the South Downs.
[edit] Regional Attachment
In Year 5 students undertake clinical attachments in two different regional locations chosen from: Chichester, Eastbourne, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Redhill, Worthing and Brighton. Attachments will be available throughout the range of departments in an acute district general hospital, as well as community placements in mental health and general practice.
[edit] Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
The Trust provides district general hospital services to the local population of some 460,000. It also provides a range of specialist services including cancer services, neurosciences, cardiac surgery, renal services and intensive care for adults, children and new-born babies, to a population of approximately 1,000,000.
The Trust is a very large public sector employer, employing some 5,500 staff with an annual budget of over £300 million. The Trust manages around 1,140 beds and provides the majority of its services from two main sites:
- The Royal Sussex County Hospital campus (including the Sussex Eye Hospital) in Brighton
- The Princess Royal Hospital campus (including the Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre) in Haywards Heath.
Children’s services are currently provided by the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton. The Trust is in the process of transferring a contract for the re-provision of these services to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, with a planned opening in the spring of 2007.
[edit] External links
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School Website
- South Downs Health NHS
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School Forum
| UK Medical Schools | |
|---|---|
| England | Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and Sussex, Cambridge, Durham*, UEA, Hull York, Keele, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London (Barts, Imperial, King's, Royal Free and UCL, St George's), Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Peninsula, Sheffield, Southampton, Warwick. |
| Scotland | Aberdeen, Bute (St Andrews)*, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow. |
| Wales | Cardiff, Swansea. |
| Northern Ireland | Queen's Belfast. |
| * Durham and Bute (St Andrews) offer a pre-clinical course only, with students transferring to another university to complete their clinical studies | |
