Medical students are the future of the NHS workforce and we cannot afford to lose them - Vash Loffelmann

Medical students need to be better supported

Over recent years much has been said about the need to widen access to medicine and encourage pupils from less affluent areas to consider a career as a doctor. It certainly makes sense to widen the representation of our medical profession to more accurately reflect our patients.

However, studying medicine is a long, intense and costly process. Even in Scotland where tuition fees are free for many students, there is the cost of textbooks, travel to and from placements, accommodation when on placement if you’re far away from home, and increased costs of living generally.

Students sometimes spend upwards of 40 hours per week just on practical learning through their clinical placements when they are studying medicine – with an expectation of further studying and learning beyond this.

Managing this workload while also trying to juggle a part-time job in order to make ends meet financially is not an easy task, and I am increasingly hearing from fellow students that they feel burnt out before they have even started working as a doctor. BMA Scotland recently conducted a snap survey of 340 medical students in Scotland, and 94% of those who responded said that medical school had impacted their finances, and 70% reporting their current financial situation at university had impacted their mental health.

Unfortunately, this issue with finances can lead to disparities – particularly between widening participation students who are more likely to have to work in order to put themselves through university and have less financial support from their families, and students from more affluent backgrounds who can rely on greater financial support networks, which allow them more time and resources to study for exams and enhance their career portfolios.

It is my belief that we desperately need to bridge this gap in finances to allow medical students in Scotland to achieve their goals without being held back by the stress of increasing living costs and long part-time working hours – and encourage more students from diverse backgrounds to consider a career as a doctor. That is why I am urging the Scottish government to consider exploring a return-of-service medical bursary that will positively impact medical students in Scotland.

I have recently spoken to fellow students who have told me just how challenging it is to find a job during their placement years – with rotations demanding your presence from 9-5 on weekdays and weekends for on-call duty, there are very limited hours left in the day. In rural placements, you might have to live away from home for six to eight weeks at a time, and these circumstances do not present themselves favourably to employers.

Despite efforts to broaden the horizons of medical students, there remains a real lack of support once they enter medical school. In contrast, degrees like nursing or midwifery in Scotland provide financial assistance to students during their full-time placement years, recognising the significant time commitment – something we need to see happen for medical students too.

I am deeply concerned by the high number of students who responded to our survey who said their current financial situation has significantly impacted their mental health – change must be made before we lose them to another career path. Medical students are the future of the NHS workforce and we cannot afford to lose them before they even begin.

Vash Loffelmann, chair of the BMA’s Scottish Medical Students Committee