The first cohort of graduate-entry medical students from the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine have taken part in an introductory clinical placement at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary.
Working with the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, it was a milestone for the school.
PCSM was launched to help tackle the area’s workforce gaps and health inequalities by building a pipeline of doctors with strong ties to the county.
Its bespoke curriculum has been developed to meet local population needs and prepare students for multi‑professional, place‑based care.
Professor Mary Morrell, head of school at PCSM, said the start of placements represented the kind of locally embedded learning the new medical school was founded to deliver, linking classroom learning with clinical environments and prevention-focused practice.
The placements gave students early, supervised exposure to patient care and multi-disciplinary teamwork – core elements of PCSM’s bespoke, community-focused curriculum.
Claire Young, consultant orthopaedic surgeon and NCIC programme director for PCSM, said: “The first clinical placement ran really well.
“Initial feedback from the students, and faculty delivering the placement, acknowledged how beneficial the students found interaction with doctors and other healthcare professionals and the students really enjoyed the experience.”
Dr Louise Buchanan, medical director for professional standards said: “It was a really exciting week – we are proud to support our doctors of the future as they started their clinical placements.
“We’re delighted to be working closely with Pears and see it as a key step in addressing recruitment and retention of doctors in the region. I’m looking forward to our first doctors from the school joining us at NCIC when they qualify from 2029.”
Student Safy Irwin said: “The placement with North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust at the Cumberland Infirmary was fantastic, I enjoyed it so much.”
Fellow student Megha Majumder added: “I’ve been thinking back to my placement and remembering the doctor I shadowed. They always carried a detailed patient list, but when we met each patient, the paperwork no longer seemed important- what mattered was the person in front of us. That experience taught me an essential clinical skill, looking beyond the chart to truly understand the patient.”
PCSM, the first graduate-entry medical school in Cumbria, established with philanthropic support from the Pears Foundation.
It welcomed the inaugural cohort in August 2025 and is based at the University of Cumbria’s Fusehill Street campus in Carlisle.
Students study an Imperial-awarded MBBS, with a bespoke curriculum tailored to Cumbria, blending medical science with early patient contact, simulation and research-informed practice.
