Undergraduate Medicine:
Fitness to Practise

Fitness to Practise

It is important that the choice to enter medicine is made with insight into where it might lead, the expectations of others, the role of life-long learning, and with awareness that the course is a training for professional practise.  Medical students are expected to behave with the utmost integrity from the very start of their training. 

In St Andrews you will be working within a professional environment and you will be studying to obtain a University degree that automatically allows you to progress to your clinical training at a separate institution. It is therefore essential that you are able to fulfill Fitness to Practise requirements.

Fitness to Practise requirements are based on the General Medical Council’s publication of Good Medical Practice, incorporating the points outlined in Duties of a Doctor.

Each year as a medical student in St Andrews, you will be required to submit a signed declaration which indicates what is expected of you as a young professional in training.  If a student’s conduct falls below acceptable standards this could lead to a student being referred to the Faculty of Medicine Fitness to Practise Committee.

 

Disability

A disability need not be a bar to becoming a doctor.  Applicants who have a disability will need to consider what effect that disability will have on their capacity to function as a medical practitioner.  Careful thought about the impact of any disability on patients and colleagues needs to be given and ways of accommodating for a disability need to be considered.

Applicants may be asked to provide written reports from professional experts in the appropriate field. 

In the first instance applicants with a disability (including dyslexia) or other health problems are advised to contact the University’s Disabilities Adviser, Student Support Services, University of St Andrews, KY16 9UZ, tel: (01334) 462038, before submitting their application to UCAS to explore what support will be available from the University.

The Medical Admissions Special Circumstances Committee may also be involved in assessing any applicant with a disability or health problem in order to consider support that would enable the applicant to carry out their studies and to predict whether that applicant will be able to carry out their role as a doctor in an effective and safe manner.

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Immunisation

As an entrant you will be seen by the Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Services (OHSAS) following admission.  During this process each entrant will be screened for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infection and any necessary immunisations and antibody tests will be performed. All entrants are required to complete a course of immunisation against hepatitis B virus.  There will be no financial charge to students for this service.

Infection with hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV does not mean that you cannot train to be a doctor but it is important to note that any entrant student who is found to be a carrier of hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV will require special counselling, as such a situation could place restrictions on the student's clinical placements and limit his or her medical practice following qualification.

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Criminal Records Disclosure

Successful applicants will also be required, as part of the non-academic conditions of their offer, to undertake satisfactory completion of a Criminal Records Disclosure.

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