A-LEVEL students from across Swindon have been taking part in a special summer school at Great Western Hospital to give them an insight into the realities of a career in medicine.

The Dare to Doctor programme ran from July 18 to 20, and allows ambitious prospective doctors and nurses to get a unique insight into the field.

The students came from a number of schools and colleges in the area including New College, The Ridgeway School and St Joseph’s Catholic College.

Vicky Taylor, 27, Clinical Teaching Fellow and junior doctor at GWH NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We ran the same programme last year and it has been really successful and a lot of fun. We reach out to A-level students from all the schools in the area, but we do ask that anyone who wants to come along has attained at least five A’s at GCSE. We want to make sure we attract the right students for the process.

“It is completely free, so anyone with an interest in a medical career can come along and see what it is all about.”

The students spend time learning the tricks of the trade from practising doctors and finding out how to get that critical first job in the industry by having mock interviews and drafting personal statements.

“This year we have had 28 students visit us,” Vicky added. “They are in the hospital for two-and-a-half days, from Thursday through to Saturday morning. They spend two half days shadowing doctors around the hospital learning about all the different aspects of medicine.

“The Undergraduate Team at GWH have worked very hard to put on this event, and the support from our junior doctors and medical students has also been fantastic. It is a great opportunity for them to share their career experiences with the college students.

“We also had two of our junior doctors talking about the different career paths and specialities within the medical profession.

“This morning we helped them put together personal statements in a workshop before going through basic clinical skills and practical training. It is supposed to spark their enthusiasm for medicine.”

But it is not all study – the group also have the chance to get some hands on experience with state-of-the-art simulation equipment.

Vicky said: “We do not teach anything too technical, just basic life support, but we hope to get consultants coming in to do practice interviews.

“We will also be trying to get some of them to come in to our new simulation room which we have never used with the students before. Hopefully getting so hands on will inspire them.”