◦ Year 3 medical students spend 12 Wednesday mornings at our GP practice during either semester 1 or 2. This is an increase from previous years, reflecting the value of this exposure. These students are typically in groups of six and will be with the same group for all 12 sessions. For the rest of their week, these students are based in a hospital within the Belfast Trust area.

 ◦ Year 4 medical students engage in their second ‘immersion in practice’ year. Their continuity comes from their ‘home’ GP practice, where they will return four times through the academic year, for two weeks at a time, totalling eight weeks of clinical GP learning time per student. These placements are at fixed time points between late August and mid-May. Year 4 students are ideally paired for their practice placements, offering benefits to both students and the practice. They will rotate through four lifecycle pillars, focusing on reproductive health, child health, mental health, and ageing and health.

• How Medical Students Will Interact with Patients:

 ◦ Students will have opportunities to speak to patients, with a strong emphasis on developing their communication skills. This may include interacting with patients with pre-arranged “cold cases,” such as those with chronic disease management or complex co-morbidities.

 ◦ They may also participate in home visits, though this is not mandatory.

 ◦ Students can perform practical tasks such as ECGs, taking blood samples, or dipping urines.

 ◦ They might phone patients to follow up on hospital admissions (for holistic conversation and information gathering), check medication compliance, notify of changes in medication, or provide health promotion advice (e.g., for raised cholesterol).

 ◦ Their learning involves spending time with various members of the practice team, observing consultations, and progressing to supported independent consulting.

 ◦ By the end of their Year 4 placements, students are expected to have led a reasonable number of consultations. The continuity of their placements also offers unique opportunities for students to follow up with patients they have met during previous two-week blocks.

 ◦ Students are encouraged to be proactive in identifying any ‘pillar specific’ learning opportunities at practice level.

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Queen’s University Belfast Pharmacy Students

We host Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) students from Queen’s University Belfast for their mandatory experiential learning placements. These placements are essential for providing them with hands-on experience in both primary and secondary care settings.

• Roles and Activities:

 ◦ These students are training to become experts in medicines, focusing on their safe and effective use. Their curriculum emphasises developing professional judgment, managing risk, and mastering diagnostic and consultation skills. The new standards for their degree also prepare them to become independent prescribers from their first day on the register, starting from 2026.

 ◦ Experiential learning is a mandatory part of the MPharm degree, included as teaching hours. Placements occur in primary and secondary care sites across Northern Ireland.

 ◦ Year 2 pharmacy students typically complete one week in a community pharmacy and one week in a hospital pharmacy.

 ◦ Year 3 pharmacy students will undertake one week in a GP practice, one week in a community pharmacy, and two weeks in a hospital setting.

 ◦ Year 4 pharmacy students are expected to complete six weeks of experiential learning placements, divided across primary and secondary care.

 ◦ Students also practise in state-of-the-art simulated environments, including a simulated community pharmacy and facilities that replicate GP practices and hospital environments.

• How Pharmacy Students Will Interact with Patients:

 ◦ Pharmacy students will develop and refine their communication and consultation skills for gathering information, taking patient histories, diagnosing self-treatable conditions, and providing essential medicines-related information.

 ◦ They will learn to apply knowledge of legislation and therapeutics to check the clinical appropriateness and legal validity of prescriptions, and to apply relevant clinical knowledge in the supply of medicines.

 ◦ Their training includes using evidence-based national guidance to ensure the clinical appropriateness of therapeutic agents and to support safe and effective patient care.

 ◦ They may also perform physical examination skills, such as measuring blood pressure.

 ◦ Students are expected to engage in interprofessional learning with medical and nursing students to address real-world problems in healthcare.

 ◦ They will complete Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs), which define specific professional tasks they can undertake under supervision, enhancing their hands-on experience.

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Ulster University Pharmacy Students

Our practice is also a placement site for Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) students from Ulster University, providing them with crucial experiential learning opportunities.

• Roles and Activities:

 ◦ Ulster University MPharm students receive up to 12 weeks of experiential learning across their programme (Levels 5-7, equivalent to Years 2-4 of a standard MPharm course), with placements covering multiple sectors. This includes six weeks in hospital, three weeks in community pharmacy, and three weeks in general practice.

 ◦ They are trained to apply professional judgment, conduct patient consultations, perform medication reviews, and make medication recommendations. They also learn to demonstrate professional behaviour in both real-life and simulation settings.

 ◦ From 2026, newly registered pharmacists will be able to prescribe medicines as independent prescribers from their first day on the register.

 ◦ Students complete Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) to monitor their performance and assess competencies related to tasks like patient consultations, medication reviews, and professional judgment.

• How Pharmacy Students Will Interact with Patients:

 ◦ Ulster University pharmacy students will engage in patient consultations, medication reviews, patient counselling, prescription checks, and making medication recommendations.

 ◦ They will develop their communication skills, learn to interpret data, and apply professional judgment to ensure safe and effective patient care.

 ◦ Their training involves performing patient-specific calculations and understanding appropriate actions when responding to symptoms or in a prescribing context.

 ◦ Students are trained to recognise and work within the limits of their knowledge and skills, and to get support and refer to others when needed.

 ◦ They also learn to anticipate and recognise adverse drug reactions.

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Your Choice and Confidentiality

We value your comfort and privacy during your consultations.

• Your Choice: If you would prefer that a student is not present during your consultation, please inform the receptionist at the time of your appointment. This decision will not affect the quality of your care in any way.

• Confidentiality: You can be assured that anything you discuss with any member of the surgery staff, including our students, will remain strictly confidential. We adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and NHS codes of Confidentiality and Security. Information about you will not be shared with anyone—including parents, other family members, care workers, or teachers—without your explicit permission. The only exception would be in situations where it is necessary to protect you or someone else from serious harm, and in such rare circumstances, we would always endeavour to discuss this with you first.

Your well-being is our priority, and we appreciate your support in helping to train the next generation of healthcare professionals.

For any worries or queries about confidentiality or student involvement in your care, please do not hesitate to ask a member of staff.