Medicine and Surgery with a Gateway Year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery - BMBCh

Our Medicine and Surgery MBChB with a Gateway Year is designed for talented UK students from backgrounds under-represented in medicine and who may be disadvantaged in applying to our five-year MBChB Medicine and Surgery programme. Find out more about our eligibility criteria.

It will provide you with grounding in the medical sciences, building your academic skills, knowledge and confidence. After successfully completing the Gateway Year you will progress to the five-year MBChB programme and continue your training to become a skilled, empathetic and patient-centred doctor.

Our approach

Studying medicine at Lancaster is about more than diagnosis and treatment. Through modern teaching methods, early clinical experience, and strong partnerships with healthcare providers, you will build the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills needed to succeed as an empathetic and patient-centred doctor.

How will I learn?

You’ll learn in engaging, hands-on ways that are based on real patients and real clinical practice.

Our teaching is active, supportive, and designed to help you build confidence step by step, so you’re not just learning medicine, you’re learning how to be a doctor.

* Small group, interactive teaching

* A balanced mix of teaching methods

Your learning will include a mix of methods and formats, each of which is carefully chosen to fit what you are learning

* Case-Based Learning (CBL) that helps you think like a doctor and work through real clinical problems

* Clinical skills teaching to build practical, hands-on abilities

* Simulation-based learning so you can practise safely and grow in confidence

* Anatomy teaching, including using modern tools like Anatomage tables

* Early and ongoing patient contact, in both community and hospital settings

Supporting you all the way

The medical school provides specific care for our medical students on a range of issues that may affect their studies, including academic matters, physical and mental health issues, disability, and personal or financial problems.

When will I go on placements?

You will begin placements in year two, after meeting simulated patients in year 1.

Your placements are closely aligned with your learning. This means that, after you have studied the theory behind a system of the body, you then go out on placement to apply your learning to real-world medical scenarios.

This integration of your on-campus studies and clinical placements will enable you to consolidate your learning and more quickly gain a deeper knowledge of medicine.

Your placements may take you to any of more than 70 different healthcare providers across Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire, with which we have partnerships. These include acute hospitals, mental health trusts, GP surgeries, hospices and community healthcare providers.