Community Information

Welcome to the general practice and community pages.

Welcome to the general practice and community pages.
One of the major changes to modern medical school curricula is the amount of teaching that now takes place in general practice and community settings. Medical students now must understand that patients receive most of their health care in or close to their own homes from their general practitioners and community services. As a result, relatively little healthcare is delivered in hospitals. This is reflected in students spending more time learning in general practices and with community services than in the past.

Throughout your time as a medical student at Keele you will be encouraged to think of community and social dimensions of illness and health. You will have placements with community services and general practices in years 1 and 2 and over 20% of teaching in years 3, 4 and 5 takes place in general practices. Examples of other community services we use are schools, the workplace, residential homes, gyms and drop-in centres to name but a few; all places which contribute to the health and care of people.

In the new curriculum we are changing how we use general practices and community services to support your learning.

You will be learning in general practice and/or the community in each year of study at Keele:
Year 1: 6 half days in general practices
Year 2: Up to eight days half days of placements some of which will be in community settings and a Student Selected Component consisting of 24 hours working with a community service provider.
Year 3: 4 weeks in a general practice
Year 4: 4 weeks in general practice
Year 5: 15 weeks in a general practice

You will have additional opportunities to work in general practice and the community as part of your Student Selected Components.

View a map of our general practice and community placements

 

General Practice Placements