At Lancaster University, studying Medicine and Surgery is about more than learning to diagnose and treat disease. It is about becoming a compassionate, thoughtful doctor who can thrive in the rapidly evolving world of healthcare.

Our MBChB programme is designed with the future of medicine in mind. Through modern teaching methods, early clinical experience, and strong partnerships with healthcare providers, you will build the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills needed to succeed as an empathetic and patient-centred doctor.

What makes Lancaster distinctive is our values-led approach. We believe in social justice, inclusion, and sustainability and so these sit at the heart of our programme, encouraging you to understand patients as whole people shaped by their lives, communities, and environments.

Our curriculum also reflects the realities of modern healthcare. You will explore multimorbidity and learn about the body’s systems in an integrated way, helping you understand how conditions interact and preparing you to care for real patients with complex needs.

Our unique location is ideal for getting an insight into the practice of medicine across a hugely diverse population and geography. Your clinical and community placements will offer you a breadth of experience in locations ranging from small, rural GP practices to urban hospitals and deprived coastal communities, helping you to become a well-rounded, resilient, work-ready medical practitioner.

It’s been 20 years since we began training medics. Since then, we may have grown steadily in size but our ethos as a highly-supportive, student-focussed learning environment remains. Our small group teaching means you’ll quickly feel at home and you’ll always have someone to turn to – be it a fellow student or your tutor – when you need a helping hand.

You should come to us with plenty of self-discipline and a willingness to work hard, as well as academic excellence. In turn, we will nurture your talent and support you to reach your full potential and become the most resilient, confident version of yourself, whatever your background.

A values-led medical programme

Lancaster’s medical programme is built around strong values. Social justice, inclusion, and sustainability aren’t just extras, they’re at the heart of how we think about health and healthcare. You’ll be taught to see patients as whole people, shaped not only by their illness, but also by their background, their environment, and the challenges they face in life.

A fresh look at teaching medicine

The world of medicine is constantly evolving. To reflect that, we are refreshing the way we teach medicine and surgery at Lancaster, so that we can prepare our students to excel as medics in the healthcare environment of the future. You will learn about the latest developments in clinical medicine and technology through modern and engaging ways of learning.

One of the things that makes Lancaster different is our focus on multimorbidity. Instead of learning about illnesses one by one in isolation, you’ll explore how people often live with several long-term conditions at the same time. This reflects what doctors see in real life and helps prepare you to care for real patients from the very start of your training.

To reflect this, you will learn about the body’s systems, such as the cardiovascular, musculo-skeletal or renal systems before seeing how dysfunction leads to ill health, causing problems for patients with movement or homeostasis, for example. You will also learn how social, psychological and ethics impact on perception and delivery of healthcare so you can treat the whole person rather than addressing isolated ailments.

Our course also reflects the NHS 10 Year Plan by focusing on how patients experience healthcare. This includes how community care and hospitals interact, how patients experience health inequalities, and how, as doctors, we treat each patient with fairness and respect.

Making a difference beyond the university

You’ll be encouraged to engage with research, health policy, and decision-making, both locally and globally. We will empower you to help drive positive change and improve the health and well-being of society.

What we’re looking for

Being a successful medical student and future doctor takes much more than academic ability. We are seeking students who are committed to making a difference to the health and well-being of patients and communities.

You will need to be motivated, self-aware and conscientious and demonstrate respect for patients and a compassionate and caring nature. Working in a team is a crucial part of medical practice, and working alongside and respecting your peers is essential within our small group teaching environment.

Creating great communicators

We believe that developing good communication skills is essential to becoming a caring and empathetic doctor. At Lancaster, you’ll start building your communication and clinical skills from your very first year.

You will practice your communication skills with simulated patients (actors) at our Health Innovation Campus in a safe and supported environment, learning how to best adjust your communication for different people's needs.

This will help you grow in confidence when talking to patients, taking medical histories, and carrying out basic examinations, before you head out on placements.

Our curriculum themes

We are passionate about our research which focuses on understanding the health needs of local, national and global populations and we use this to inspire the doctors we train to have a positive impact on people’s lives. As such, our integrated curriculum will give you an understanding of the socio-economic, cultural and environmental factors that affect health and medicine, as well as population health and professional practice.

Through it, you will build a diverse and flexible skillset and become adept at the joined-up thinking needed to excel in a rewarding career in medicine.

Our curriculum is built around core themes that will enable you to develop the knowledge and skills required for modern clinical practice including:

• medical sciences
• the psychology and sociology of health and illness
• population health
• professional practice and values
• medical ethics and law

How will I learn?

You’ll learn in engaging, hands-on ways that are based on real patients and real clinical practice.

Our teaching is active, supportive, and designed to help you build confidence step by step, so you’re not just learning medicine, you’re learning how to be a doctor.

Small group, interactive teaching We focus on active learning in small groups, so you’re not just sitting in lectures all day. You’ll take part in workshops, case-based learning, as well as sessions in clinical anatomy and clinical skills, and do your own independent learning. Our teaching is underpinned by contemporary learning theory. By learning in this way, you will have more chances to ask questions, discuss ideas, and practise what you’re learning, helping you understand topics quicker and more deeply.

A balanced mix of teaching methods

Your learning will include a mix of methods and formats, each of which is carefully chosen to fit what you are learning

• Case-Based Learning (CBL) that helps you think like a doctor and work through real clinical problems
• Clinical skills teaching to build practical, hands-on abilities
• Simulation-based learning so you can practise safely and grow in confidence
• Anatomy teaching, including using modern tools like Anatomage tables
• Early and ongoing patient contact, in both community and hospital settings

Learning that makes sense for real medicine

All of these approaches are chosen because they match what you’re learning at each stage, whether that’s understanding how the body works, learning how to communicate with patients, or making complex clinical decisions. The aim is to help you feel prepared, supported, and ready for real medical practice.

Supporting you all the way

We understand the challenges of studying medicine and becoming a doctor. Therefore, we have developed a wide range of tailored support for medical students to help you every step of the way.

The medical school provides specific care for our medical students on a range of issues that may affect their studies, including academic matters, physical and mental health issues, disability, and personal or financial problems.

This service is offered in addition to the wider student support services offered by the University and colleges which you can also access.

Academic tutor You’ll be allocated an academic tutor when you first join us. They will meet with you regularly to review your progress and provide academic support, advice and guidance. Student peer mentors During welcome week, you’ll be buddied up with a student mentor from one of the year groups above in the medical school. They will provide you with informal advice and tips on anything from study tips to the best places to eat.

Colleges

Lancaster University is a collegiate university, and you can access a range of support through your college support team.

MBChB Hub The MBChB Hub is a dedicated online resource for information about studying medicine and surgery at Lancaster.

How will I be assessed?

The foundation block: getting ready for university learning

At the start of the course, you’ll complete a Foundation Block designed to help you make the transition from A-levels to more independent, self-directed university study. You’ll learn how to find, use, and evaluate reliable resources, and you’ll be introduced to topics you may not have studied before, before exploring them in more depth later in Year 1.

The Foundation Block is supported by formative tests so you can see how you’re progressing and identify any areas where you might want to focus your independent learning.

Exams in years 1 to 4

In Years 1 to 4, you’ll sit examinations to check the knowledge and skills you’ve built during each year of the course. These include written exams that assess your understanding across all areas of the curriculum, as well as work-based clinical exams that focus on practical skills.

Some of these clinical exams are Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). These are designed to test things like how you communicate with patients, take a medical history, carry out clinical examinations, perform practical procedures, and explain your clinical reasoning — all in a supportive, structured way.

Your final exams

You’ll take your final examinations at the end of Year 4. This means that in Year 5, you can focus fully on preparing to become a Foundation trainee doctor. Your final assessments will include the General Medical Council’s (GMC) Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA), which all UK medical graduates must take.

Your learning portfolio

In years 2-5, you’ll build an online portfolio of evidence to show that you’ve met the required clinical learning outcomes. The portfolio also helps you track your own progress and to reflect on your personal development needs to make you the best doctor you can be.

Your final year: portfolio and professional development

In Year 5, learning and professional development continue through your clinical placements. You’ll be assessed through your portfolio and regular reviews with your clinical education supervisor. Your final-year portfolio is designed to prepare you for Foundation training and for the next stage of your career as a doctor.

Can I intercalate on my course?

We encourage our Medicine and Surgery MBChB and Medicine and Surgery MBChB with a Gateway Year students to intercalate during their studies with us.

Taking a year away from your medical degree can provide a change of pace and offer breathing space from your usual studies. Whilst still academically challenging, your additional qualification will give you time away from the broader study of medicine, allowing you instead to specialise and explore an area of interest in greater detail.

At Lancaster, you will intercalate between years 4 and 5 of your MBChB, allowing you to study for either a bachelor’s or a master ’s-level qualification. Intercalation is a great opportunity to add additional skills to your medicine and surgery qualification, enabling you to stand out as you enter the health and care workforce.

Find out more about intercalation and our suitable courses.

More information about NHS bursaries.

Course structure

Year 1: Building strong foundations

Where You’ll Be Based

In Years 1 and 2, you’ll mainly be based at our Health Innovation Campus. This is where you’ll build the knowledge and skills you need to move into more focused clinical learning from Year 3 onwards with confidence. The foundation block: preparing you for university study

You’ll complete a Foundation Block designed to help you move from A-levels to university-level learning. You’ll learn how to find, use, and evaluate reliable resources, and you’ll be introduced to topics you may not have studied before university, exploring them in more depth later in Years 1 and 2 and applying this learning in later years of the course.

The Foundation Block is supported by formative testing, helping you see how you are progressing and identify any areas where you may want to focus your study.

Learning about the body’s systems

You’ll begin by exploring the body’s main systems through lectures, small group and clinical skills teaching.

This lets you focus on understanding the core systems of the body and how they work before moving on to more complex topics.

Within these blocks of study, you’ll have study skills and consolidation sessions to help you strengthen your understanding before moving on to the next body system.

By learning about body systems, you’ll see how different organs work together - and how illness can disrupt this balance. This knowledge is essential for understanding more complex medical problems, especially when patients have more than one condition.

It also gives you a strong foundation in the principles of health and disease, preparing you to meet new and unfamiliar conditions in the future.

Early patient contact

At Lancaster, you’ll start building your communication and clinical skills from your very first year. You will practice your communication skills with simulated patients (actors) at our Health Innovation Campus in a safe and supported environment, learning how to best adjust your communication for different people's needs.

This will help you grow in confidence when talking to patients, taking medical histories, and carrying out basic examinations.

Assessment and progression

Throughout the year, you’ll be assessed to check your understanding and make sure you’re ready to progress to the next stage of the course. You’ll take part in formative (practice) assessments, which help you get used to the exam style and question types and give you useful feedback to guide your revision. You’ll also sit summative assessments, which count towards your degree. The feedback from your formative assessments will help you prepare and perform at your best in the exams that count in your progression into the next year of study.

Year 2: developing your knowledge and skills

Exploring more body systems

In Year 2, you’ll continue to explore more systems of the body. Within each block, you’ll consolidate your learning to check and strengthen your understanding.

Your first placements

You will spend time on campus as well as on clinical placements a range of care settings, allowing you to directly apply your learning from Year 1 to real-world clinical cases.

Year 3: learning in clinical practice

Placements across the region

In Year 3, you’ll spend most of your time on placement. You’ll be based in one of more than 70 health and care organisations across Lancashire, Cumbria, and North Yorkshire. These include acute hospitals, mental health trusts, GP surgeries, hospices, and community healthcare providers. University teaching weeks. Between placements, you’ll return to campus for teaching weeks to deepen and consolidate your learning.

As in Years 1 and 2, your learning continues to focus on understanding the body’s systems and how disease affects them, but with more emphasis on linking this to clinical practice, in both treating and managing patients.

Building your research skills

You’ll also complete a four-week research module, helping you develop research skills that are increasingly important in modern healthcare. This also provides a strong foundation if you choose to intercalate and study for a further degree between Years 4 and 5.

Year 4: preparing for qualification

Advanced clinical learning Year 4 follows a similar pattern to Year 3, with most of your time spent on placements and university teaching weeks in between.

The Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA)

Unlike students at many other medical schools, Lancaster students complete all parts of the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) in Year 4. These are the exams set by the General Medical Council (GMC) that you must pass to join the UK medical register. This includes:

• The Applied Knowledge Test (AKT)
• The Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA) Passing these allows you to gain provisional registration with the GMC.

By the end of year 4, you are almost a doctor!

Freedom to focus in Year 5

Because you complete the MLA in Year 4, you won’t have formal final exams in Year 5. This means you can focus fully on your final-year clinical experience.

Year 5: your final year – portfolio and professional development

In Year 5, learning continues through your clinical placements in a role that closely reflects the working life of a newly qualified doctor. This year is designed to feel like an internship and to prepare you for starting work as a Foundation doctor.

You’ll be assessed mainly through your portfolio and regular reviews with your clinical education supervisor. Your final-year portfolio will support your professional development and prepare you for Foundation training and the next stage of your career as a doctor.

Elective

At the end of year 5, you will complete a four-week elective period, which you arrange. You can do this in a clinical placement in a hospital or community healthcare setting of your choosing in the UK or anywhere in the world. Some students choose to do short research projects focusing on improving healthcare.

We are delighted to introduce an optional wellbeing elective. This is a short, structured part of the curriculum designed to help you look after your mental, emotional, and physical health, and to build positive habits before you commence your NHS Foundation Years.

Examples of well-being electives might be yoga practice, exploration of your religion, arts or music study, meditation and mindfulness, language study, or another theme that best suits you.