Our Year 2024 - 2025: North Wales Medical Education Department
31 July 2025
By Ruth Evans, Undergraduate Co-ordinator, North Wales Medical Education Department
As we prepare for the next academic year, we reflect on our achievements for 2024/25. It has been a very productive period, during which we mentored:
- 241 Medical Students
- 7 Physician Associate Students
- 54 Seren Programme Students
- 33 Work Experience Students
Our students included:
- 3rd, 4th, and 5th Year Medical Students
- 1st and 2nd Year Physician Associate Students
- Year 12 and 13 High School Students participating in the widening access to medicine (SEREN) Programme
Additionally, we organised Future Doctors events for high school students from years 8 to 11, which saw an attendance of 129 pupils. The event was very well received, with excellent feedback. We hope to see some of these pupils return as medical students in the future!
The Academic FY2 Doctors developed a communications programme involving students from Swansea and Cardiff. This initial data was presented at Betsi Education conference in Bangor in March 2025, where they received a prize for best presentation. This has also been submitted for presentation at the ASPiH Conference in Medical Education, and following further data collection, will be considered for publication.
The previously developed "On Call Survival" session was carried out for the final year medical students. This session covered the complexities of prescribing and provided hands-on experience with the challenges of bleep holding and managing out-of-hours duties.
In May, we organised a simulation competition for the final year students. They had the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and problem-solving abilities by developing innovative simulation scenarios. These scenarios were then tested by their peers, who voted to determine the winner and runners-up
In July, we ran the yearly work experience programme for local 6th form students who have an interested in medicine. The programme provided students with opportunities to visit wards, clinics, theatres, and procedure lists, as well as gain skills and simulation exposure. The feedback was excellent with most of the students interested in pursuing medicine.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the staff members who have played a crucial role in educating our students this year. Your dedication and support have been invaluable. It’s because of your efforts that we consistently receive some of the highest praise in Wales for our clinical education programme.
Thank you!
Just a couple of examples of the fabulous feedback we have received from some of the previous medical students:
“The overall friendliness and willingness to teach from all the staff. It made for a really positive and educational placement, and I was able to get involved with procedures and practice many skills”
“A really positive learning environment. The Educational Department have been brilliant”
“The teaching on this placement was excellent. Staff were keen to get me involved and provided excellent and constructive feedback, so I know where to improve in future”
“It has been a brilliant placement and I feel it is a good template for how other placements in other hospitals can be structured to provide a really positive learning environment for students”