Medical Students

Lord Kakkar Excerpts
Wednesday 26th October 2016

(8 years, 1 month ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Prior of Brampton Portrait Lord Prior of Brampton
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My Lords, predicting the future requirement for doctors is extremely difficult. It is more a matter of prophesy than science. The fact that we are now going to fund an extra 1,500 doctor places a year, which is a 25% increase, should make a huge difference.

Lord Kakkar Portrait Lord Kakkar (CB)
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My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of University College London Partners. Beyond undergraduate medical education, do the Government believe that there are sufficient opportunities for the established workforce to continue to develop itself to meet the changing needs of the population of our country?

Lord Prior of Brampton Portrait Lord Prior of Brampton
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That is a very big question, which is hard to answer. My personal view is that I do not think that the training we give to our young doctors in management, leadership and how to structure new models of care is sufficiently broad. You could argue that the curriculum at medical school is too narrow and should be broadened.