Medical Degree

Overview

Our region’s hospitals have many workforce gaps and we sit in one of the worst regions in the UK for a shortfall in the number of doctors per patient, with 2,500 people per GP. It’s widely known the UK’s health service is under strain. Demand is increasing, the level of care is ever more complex, our population is ageing, and our workforce is under greater pressure than ever before. Nowhere is this more keenly felt than in Portsmouth.

The project to launch King’s College London Medicine in partnership with the University of Portsmouth is an exciting venture that will allow us to begin improving the future supply of doctors to the local area. 

King’s College London Graduate Entry Medicine Programme at the University of Portsmouth will start teaching medical students from September 2024. Please note that applications for 2024 have now closed. To start this course in 2025, please contact us.

King's College London is a leading university in training doctors and together we've formed a partnership approved by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), where 54 medical students will begin their 4 year medical degree at the University of Portsmouth, in partnership with King’s College London.

Graduates will be awarded a medical degree from King's College London.

The new King’s College London branch campus at the University of Portsmouth will bring a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits to Portsmouth, Gosport, south east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. 

We have strong partnerships with hundreds of the region’s GPs, and with our region’s NHS Trusts.

Our established partnerships will ensure we're able to make a positive contribution to our region’s healthcare and help build a reputation for excellence across all settings, including in hospitals and GP surgeries, in our cities and in rural villages.

The University of Portsmouth is working towards eventually opening an independent Medical School.

Teaching

The King's Graduate Entry Medicine MBBS degree will provide an innovative curriculum to support the training and development of the next generation of doctors and an opportunity for people in our region to engage with new career paths.

Together, we will train doctors who are compassionate, well rounded and highly skilled. Our future medics will balance global concerns about sustainability with the needs of the population.

Our future medics will be highly skilled at using new and emerging technologies, in which we already lead at Portsmouth across the full suite of healthcare courses we offer, and to which the NHS is increasingly turning to.

By working with King's College London at Portsmouth, we will train doctors with a deep understanding of our region’s health needs and a strong sense of belonging in our region.

Research

In the most recent Research Excellence framework (REF) in 2021, 79 per cent of the research from our Faculty of Science and Health was graded as world-leading or internationally excellent. In terms of the impact of our research, 94 per cent was graded as outstanding or very considerable in terms of reach and significance.

Our research in Health and Care Professions deals with the most-pressing health and wellbeing issues facing society – from the challenges of caring for an ageing population, to the importance of delivering effective health and social care to the most under-represented, vulnerable or isolated groups in society. 

In our health, wellbeing and social care research, we're exploring how best to manage the demands of an ageing population, in which mental health problems are on the rise, and increasing numbers of people are living with complex, long-term health problems. We're helping health and social care providers to make best use of the limited resources at their disposal, so they can deliver vital care and support to those who need it most.

As the demands placed on the emergency services become ever greater and more complex, our acute and emergency care research is exploring how new technology – including the use of robots in surgery – can improve patient care in acute (hospital-based) and emergency contexts. We're also identifying what needs to be done so that a skilled workforce is in place to put these new technologies to use. 

In our patient-and-user-experience research we're working to better understand the health and wellbeing needs, challenges and experiences of everyone in society – and by developing a better understanding of how patients, service users and family members experience healthcare services and illness, help make a positive impact on patients' and users' lives.

Main points of contact

Because we have partnered with KCL to deliver a course already accredited by the General Medical Council (GMC), our Medical Degree will begin graduating junior doctors as early as August 2028.