Health Requirements for Admission
Durham University Phase 1 Medicine Programme, leading to the Newcastle University Medical Degree, has an overriding duty of care to the public with whom students come into close contact from the first term of their studies and follows Department of Health guidance on health clearance for medical students.
Details of immunisation requirements will be sent to every applicant on acceptance of a conditional offer; however applicants are encouraged to monitor this website for any changes in requirements. All successful applicants must produce at registration evidence required for standard health clearance: this includes evidence of immunisation against, or immunity to, measles, mumps, varicella, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus and polio, as well as non-infectivity to tuberculosis. Students will not be permitted clinical contact with patients until they have met these standard health clearance requirements.
As a medical student you will be advised for your own protection to commence a standard schedule of immunisation against Hepatitis B; the standard schedule gives a better long-term immune response than the accelerated schedule which is not recommended. Applicants are strongly encouraged to begin their hepatitis B immunisation many months before registration on this course as the process is lengthy and is a requirement for some optional student placements.
The Medical School does have to ensure that you are capable, with support if needed, of acquiring the core clinical skills and competencies to qualify, practise as a doctor and work safely with patients. The requirements are defined in the GMC publication, Tomorrow's Doctors. Consequently, on accepting an offer all applicants will be contacted by the Occupational Health Service who will undertake confidential health screening prior to registration. Occupational Health will ask about all impairments and/or health conditions which could affect applicants in training so that they can advise the Medical School and, where appropriate, discuss what adjustments can be provided.
Additional health clearance for non-infectivity to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV will be required before any student is permitted to train or participate in any exposure-prone procedures. Durham University Phase 1 Medicine Programme, leading to the Newcastle University Medical Degree, follows the Medical Schools Council protocol on such blood borne viruses. During the course students will be requested to be tested for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV; all aspects of a student's Occupational Health record will be bound by the same duty of confidentiality as for any doctor-patient interaction and informed by the same ethical guidance. The status of any individual in respect of blood borne viruses will not be a factor in the admissions selection process and will not prevent them completing medical education.
Protection against Hepatitis B
Vaccinating medical students against hepatitis B and testing their response protects both students and patients against the risk of contracting hepatitis B. For this reason, the Medical School follows the Department of Health regulations on this subject and requires that all medical students provide proof that they have completed a full course of immunisation against hepatitis B and have developed a protective antibody response (titre >100miU/ml) or, in the case of those who have failed to fully respond to the vaccine (titre 10-100 miU/ml) that they are not infectious carriers of the virus.
The Medical School will accept as documentary proof an individual validated sample (IVS) certified laboratory report showing the presence of hepatitis B surface antibody, and, if you have failed to produce an adequate antibody response after a full course of immunisation, showing that you are negative for hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-HBC antibody. The Medical School reserves the right to re-test any or all of its medical students for any or all markers of hepatitis B virus at any time during their course and reserves the right to alter its regulations at any time in the light of future changes to Department of Health and Council of Heads of Undergraduate Medical School guidance.