Medicine and Surgery with Foundation
Medicine is the application of biological and clinical science to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human illness and injury. It is one of the most demanding and rewarding of all professional training programmes, requiring the integration of detailed scientific knowledge with the clinical skills, communication abilities, and ethical judgement needed to care for patients across the full range of human health and disease. The inclusion of a foundation year makes this pathway accessible to students who need to build or consolidate the scientific foundations required before embarking on the full six-year medical programme.
At the University of Plymouth, this six-year, full-time programme begins with a foundation year that introduces key concepts in cell biology, including genetic inheritance, metabolism, protein expression, enzyme function, and cellular organisation in different tissues. This preparation ensures you have the scientific understanding needed to engage fully with the degree programme that follows. Plymouth's medical school takes an integrated approach to medical education, developing your clinical reasoning and patient care skills from an early stage alongside the foundational sciences of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, and pathology.
You will spend significant time in clinical environments throughout the programme, developing the professional skills and practical competence needed for independent practice.
A typical entry tariff of 136 points for the foundation year reflects an accessible entry point designed to widen access to medicine for students who have the potential but not yet the full scientific preparation for direct entry. Successful completion of the programme leads to an MBChB degree and eligibility to apply for registration with the General Medical Council and to undertake foundation training in the NHS. Medicine offers a wide range of specialist career pathways, from general practice and hospital medicine to surgery, psychiatry, and public health, and many graduates pursue subspecialty training or academic medicine as their careers develop.