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Final Year Medical Students Graduate Early To Help Tackle Coronavirus

26 Mar 2020

Final Year Medical Students Graduate Early To Help Tackle Coronavirus

Final year medical students in the UK are being fast-tracked to help deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Universities have graduated thousands of medical students early so they can join the efforts of NHS staff in tackling the virus.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, announced that 5,500 final year medics and 18,700 final year student nurses ‘will move to the front line’ to ease the burden which the NHS is currently facing.

Additionally, almost 12,000 recently retired NHS workers have heeded calls to return back to the fold, meaning that, in total, there will be an increase of more than 35,000 new health staff fighting COVID-19 from next week.

Announcing the new measures, the Health Secretary said: “I pay tribute to each and every one of those who is returning to the NHS at its hour of need. In addition, from next week, 5,500 final year medics and 18,700 final year student nurses will move to the front line to make sure we have the people we need in our NHS to respond to this crisis.”

“In total, that’s over 35,000 more staff coming to the NHS when the country needs the NHS most,” said Mr Hancock.

The University of East Anglia is one of many institutes which has graduated its final year medical students early.

A spokesperson for the university said: “Given the need to support the NHS workforce in these difficult times, medical students can volunteer to work in the NHS, although they will not be able to undertake the duties of a qualified doctor.”

“We have advised students that they must act within their competence, whilst being supervised and safe. We know that some students have already been volunteering and we are incredibly proud of them for this,” added the spokesperson.

In a separate move this week, the government also launched a recruitment drive for 250,000 volunteers from the general public to further assist with the Coronavirus outbreak. After hitting that target in double-quick time, the NHS has now upped their target to 750,000 volunteers.

Announcing the scheme, the NHS website says: “NHS Volunteer Responders is a new group that will carry out simple, non-medical tasks to support people in England who have been asked to shield themselves from coronavirus because of underlying health conditions. They will be used by healthcare professionals to make sure people who are highly vulnerable to coronavirus (COVID-19) are able to stay safe and well at home.”

You can find out more about signing up as a volunteer during the crisis on the NHS Volunteer Responders page.

As a mark of respect and appreciation to health staff working on the frontline of the fight against Coronavirus, there will be a public ‘Clap For Our Carers’ initiative tonight (26th March) at 8pm.

The British public are being asked to head to their doorsteps, gardens or balconies and take part in a synchronised round of applause for NHS staff and other health and care workers.

Related Pages:

Health & Medical Internships

Graduate Careers In Medicine

Ambulance & Paramedic Apprenticeships

Health Care Apprenticeships

Clinical Trials & Paid Medical Trials

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