Manchester Medics Perform Poorly

MANCHESTER MEDICAL graduates are of below average quality when they leave university, according to a recent study.

Eleven out of the nineteen Medical Schools in the country produce better trainee doctors than The University of Manchester.

Despite ranking fifth in the Times' Good University Guide for Medicine, the University's Medical students performance is "below average" in their professional examinations.

Oxford, Cambridge and Newcastle universities produce the best doctors in the country – while Liverpool, Dundee and Belfast produce the worst.

Professor Chris McManus of University College London, who led the research programme, assessed the performance of UK medical graduates in the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians exam.
After discovering huge variations in levels of performance between Medical Schools, he argued that a national medical licensing system should be brought in across the country.

But the move was not supported by the Manchester University's Medical School, who see no evidence that it is needed.

"The researchers found the majority of the variance in performance was due to pre-admission qualification and just over a third was due to other factors … including differences in medical school teaching," said a spokesman for The University of Manchester's School of Medicine.

The Problem-Based Learning approach (PBL) the University department takes was attacked by the report authors who claimed it does not improve test results.

But the Medical School said last week that they continually review teaching to ensure undergraduates are offered the best possible education.

The spokesman said: "The programme has undergone major revisions and we have further ones planned for this coming September and the following year to ensure that our graduates are prepared for practice and do well in their post-graduate training."

The study was based on the results 5,827 graduates from different UK universities received in exams that test prospective doctors on their clinical examination and communication skills.