Signed agreement: The development of the State's first graduate-entry medical school took a step further yesterday with the signing of a partnership agreement between the University of Limerick (UL) and St Georges University of London (SGUL).
This agreement will allow the graduate-entry medical programme at UL to adopt an innovative curriculum used by SGUL since 2000. Rather than spend up to 10 years developing its own course, the partnership with St Georges means that UL could begin medical student training within 12 months of getting the go-ahead from the Department of Education.
However, according to sources close to the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin, discussions have yet to take place between Ms Hanafin and the Minister for Health Mary Harney on the report of the Medical Education and Training Group. Chaired by Prof Patrick Fottrell, past president of the National University of Ireland Galway, the working group, whose findings were revealed in The Irish Times in July, recommended that graduates of other disciplines be offered 40 per cent of all medical student places.
The Fottrell group also called for the number of training places for EU and Irish students to be more than doubled to a total of 725 places per annum.
Sources have suggested that it will be early October before any decision on the Fottrell report is put before the Cabinet. But it is understood the development of a graduate medical school in Limerick has the support of local TDs, including the Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and the Minister for State at the Department of Health Tim O'Malley.
A key feature of teaching medicine to graduates at St Georges University is problem-based learning (PBL).
"With PBL, students are primarily taught in small tutorial groups, and it has been found that this modern approach to adult learning is particularly suited to the more mature graduate student," Prof Paul Finucane, director of medical school development at UL, said. He was one of the signatories of the partnership agreement yesterday, along with the UL president, Dr Roger Downer, and the UL vice-president of academic affairs and registrar, Prof Dan Barry. St Georges was represented by Prof Michael Farthing, principal, and by Prof Peter McCrory, director of its graduate medical programme.
The St Georges curriculum, which provides students with early patient contact and has a particular emphasis on clinical skills training in primary care, was originally developed by Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.
Prof Finucane said he was "optimistic" that UL would get the go- ahead for its graduate-entry medical school, especially in the light of the growing medical manpower shortage and the agreed need for a greater number of training places for doctors.
"It takes three elements to set up a new medical school: the students, the curriculum and the faculty," Prof Finucane said, adding that UL was close to having two of the three elements in place, with just slight modifications required for both the curriculum and faculty to be ready.
Established medical schools such as UCD and UCC have also indicated they are interested in developing a graduate-entry stream as part of the expected increase in medical student intake.