Nearly half of the first cohort of Kent and Medway Medical School graduates will stay in the south east

Later this year the first ever cohort of students from Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) will graduate.

Early indications reveal that 44% of graduating KMMS students* will be staying in the Kent, Surrey and Sussex area as resident doctors via their postgraduate foundation programme.

Kent and Medway have one of the worst doctors to patient ratios in the country. KMMS was established to open access to medical education for Kent students and help address the shortage of GPs and hospital clinicians in region, training future doctors to deliver 21st-century medicine. 

A collaboration between the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University, KMMS is the first medical school in the region. It is also the only medical school in the UK to have opened during a pandemic, when it welcomed its first students in 2020.

Professor Chris Holland, Founding Dean of KMMS, said:

“Part of our original vision for KMMS was to help address the chronic shortage of doctors in our region.

“When we opened in 2020, four out of five of the areas in England with the lowest ratio of GPs to patients were in Kent, Medway or south east London. The fact that nearly half of our first cohort is staying in the region to complete their foundation training is a testament to our commitment to retaining talent within our community. Our priority is, and always has been, to ensure that we shape the future of medical education in our region so that KMMS will benefit the people of Kent, Medway and beyond for years to come.

“I am really thrilled to see such figures form our first cohort, and look forward to working alongside them as they develop their careers.”

KMMS will also be delivering a new postgraduate taught course this autumn. The Master’s in Clinical Education is accredited by Canterbury Christ Church University and will be delivered by KMMS. It is the first of its kind to be offered in the region and will be the first postgraduate course taught by KMMS.

The course offers a flexible, hybrid approach, combining online and face-to-face teaching to support the professional development of health and social care professionals who wish to enhance their roles as clinical educators.

The course reflects the shared ambition and commitment of the institutions to develop and provide healthcare professionals in Kent and Medway with opportunities for continued professional development, which also aims to support the retention of highly skilled staff and strengthen healthcare services for the region.

*Figures are according to national allocation data .