Course details
The MBBS programme at King’s aims to train students to become:
- Critical scientific thinkers.
- Collaborative leaders and innovators.
- Outstanding patient-centred clinicians.
- Excellent team-players.
- Educators and life-long learners.
- Resilient and adaptable professionals.
The MBBS curriculum is divided into three ‘Stages’ with an opt-out intercalation year between stages 2 and 3. Although we offer four entry routes into Medicine, all our students follow the same core MBBS curriculum.
As a student on the Maxfax Entry Programme you will not take Stage 1, and you will join the other medical students at Stage 2.
Stage 2 brings together science and clinical practice in blocks organised around the human life-cycle and common pathological processes. It focuses on the care of patients with common conditions in a range of clinical settings. You will also follow patients for prolonged periods of time to learn how to deliver whole-person care. This stage is underpinned by study in biomedical and population sciences.
Stage 3 is oriented towards future practice, and includes the opportunity to undertake elective study abroad. You will also conduct quality improvement projects and develop skills to transform patient and population health at home and abroad. Inter-professional training and increasingly realistic simulation are important parts of the curriculum.
The intercalated degree is a one-year BSc course which gives you the opportunity to study the subjects of your choice in greater depth across King’s and the university’s clinical partners. As a multi-faculty institution, we offer an unrivalled range of intercalated degrees from clinical and biomedical sciences to humanities subjects. The intercalated BSc is considered an opt-out year for MBBS and is taken between Stages 2 and 3 of the course. A104 students may choose to opt out of the intercalated BSc course or may choose to undertake this opportunity if desired.
Outcome of the programme
On successful completion of the course you will receive your MBBS degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ entitles you to apply for provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), subject only to its acceptance that there are no Fitness to Practise concerns that need consideration. Provisional registration is time limited to a maximum of three years and 30 days (1125 days in total). After this time period your provisional registration will normally expire.
Provisionally registered doctors can only practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts: the law does not allow provisionally registered doctors to undertake any other type of work. To obtain a Foundation Year 1 post you will need to apply during the final year of your undergraduate course through the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme, which allocates these posts to graduates on a competitive basis. Generally all suitably qualified UK graduates are allocated a place on Foundation Year 1. You will normally successfully complete Foundation Year 1 within 12 months, which is marked by the award of a Certificate of Experience.
On successful completion of Foundation Year 1, you will be eligible to apply for full registration with the GMC. You need full registration with a licence to practise for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice in the UK.
Teaching
We will provide you with high-level teaching from experts, which you will put into practice on your placements. The breakdown of teaching methods is listed below.
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Stage
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Lectures, seminars & similar
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Placement
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Self-study time
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2
(years 1 and 2)
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58% including small group and case-based teaching in clinical blocks
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41%
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1%
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3
(years 3 and 4)
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8% including small group and case-based teaching in clinical blocks
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81%
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11%
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Typically, one credit represents 10 notional hours of learning.
Assessment
Assessment is split between that which is formative (where the primary role is to demonstrate competence against course standards and learning outcomes) and summative (where the primary role is to demonstrate competence to faculty, this does contribute towards the overall module/degree score). Formative assessment occurs through the years.
Summative assessment includes:
There are also two external assessments in Stage 3, that are necessary to support you Foundation Year 1 training, but it is not essential to pass these in order to graduate from the MBBS course.
The GMC has decided to introduce a Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) from 2022 to demonstrate that those who obtain registration with a licence to practise medicine in the UK meet a common threshold for safe practice. Applicants should be aware that to obtain registration with a licence to practise, medical students will need to pass both parts of the MLA, pass university finals and demonstrate their fitness to practise.
Course accreditation
Accredited by the General Medical Council (GMC), this Primary Medical Qualification entitles the holder to apply to the GMC for registration to practise medicine in the UK.
Regulating body
King’s College London is regulated by the Office for Students.
Location
You will learn in a wide variety of hospital and community care settings. Students undertake placements at general practices and district general hospitals located in south London and south east England, currently they are mostly in Kent and Sussex. Placements outside of London offer a different and rich perspective on clinical learning, complementing the experiences gained in central London hospitals.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, all students will experience placements at London and peripheral sites during their programme.
Other related courses:
- Medicine Graduate/Professional Entry Programme MBBS
- Medicine
- Extended Medical Degree Programme MBBS
- Dentistry BDS
- Dentistry Graduate/Professional Entry Programme BDS
- Dentistry Entry Programme for Medical Graduates BDS
- Enhanced Support Dentistry Programme