¶¶ÒõAPPµ¼º½ your course

As you study Medicine and Surgery at Lancaster, you’ll experience a dynamic and supportive learning environment designed to shape you into a skilled, empathetic doctor. 

Medical students practicing on a manequin

Preparing you for the future of medicine

Our values-led programme puts social justice, inclusion, and sustainability at its heart, teaching you to see patients as whole people shaped by their background and environment. You'll learn body systems in an integrated way, reflecting real patients with complex, long-term conditions, alongside the social and ethical factors shaping healthcare. We develop confident, curious, lifelong-learning doctors within a supportive community, empowering you to drive positive change through research and health policy.

MBChB students studying a model skeleton

Our approach to teaching medicine and surgery

Medicine is constantly evolving, and Lancaster is refreshing how it teaches medicine and surgery to prepare students to excel in the healthcare environment of the future. Students learn about the latest developments in clinical medicine and technology through modern, engaging teaching methods.

A Values-Led Medical Programme

Lancaster's medical programme is built around strong values, with social justice, inclusion, and sustainability at the heart of how the university approaches health and healthcare. Students are taught to see patients as whole people, shaped not only by their illness but also by their background, environment, and life challenges.

Learning for the Real World

The curriculum reflects the realities of modern healthcare, where many people live with multiple long-term conditions. Students learn about the body's systems in an integrated way, helping them understand how conditions interact and preparing them to care for patients with complex needs. This involves studying systems such as the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and renal systems, before exploring how dysfunction leads to ill health, causing problems with movement or homeostasis. Students also learn how social, psychological, and ethical factors influence the perception and delivery of healthcare, so they learn to treat the whole person rather than isolated ailments.

The course reflects the NHS 10 Year Plan by focusing on how patients experience healthcare. This includes how community care and hospitals interact, how patients experience health inequalities, and how doctors can treat every patient with fairness and respect.

Our Vision

The goal is to prepare graduates who are ready to succeed in modern medicine: confident leaders, curious and critical thinkers, and lifelong learners with a genuine passion for excellent patient care. At Lancaster, students become part of a supportive and ambitious university community that values research, learning, and personal growth. The university is committed to helping students develop not just as medical students, but as people, with a strong sense of responsibility and compassion.

Making a Difference Beyond the University

Students are encouraged to engage with research, health policy, and decision-making, both locally and globally, empowering them to help drive positive change and improve the health and wellbeing of society.

Our curriculum themes

We are passionate about our research, which focuses on understanding the health needs of local, national and global populations and we use this to inspire the doctors we train to have a positive impact on people’s lives.
Our teaching reflects the future of healthcare and the priorities of the NHS. You’ll learn how hospitals and community services work together, explore the impact of health inequalities, and understand how doctors can improve patient experiences. The course is built around key themes including:
+ Medical sciences
+ Epidemiology and evidence-based medicine
+ Psychology and sociology of health and illness
+ Professionalism and professional life skills
+ Medical ethics and law
Our research-led approach also helps you understand the wider social, cultural and environmental factors that influence health around the world.

Interactive, small-group teaching

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

We focus on active learning in small groups, so you’re not just sitting in lectures all day. You’ll take part in workshops, case-based learning, as well as sessions in clinical anatomy and clinical skills, and do your own independent learning. Our teaching is underpinned by contemporary learning theory.

By learning in this way, you will have more chances to ask questions, discuss ideas, and practise what you’re learning, helping you understand topics quicker and more deeply.

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

Learning that makes sense for real medicine.

All of these approaches are chosen because they match what you’re learning at each stage, whether that’s understanding how the body works, learning how to communicate with patients, or making complex clinical decisions. The aim is to help you feel prepared, supported, and ready for real medical practice.

A Lancaster medicine and surgery student

Supporting you

We understand the challenges of studying medicine and becoming a doctor. Therefore, we have developed a wide range of tailored support for medical students to help you every step of the way.

We provide specific care for our medical students on a range of issues that may affect your studies, including academic matters or pastoral issues, such as physical and mental health issues, disability, and personal or financial problems.

We offer these services in addition to the wider student support services offered by individual university colleges and the central university, which you can also access.

Academic tutor

You’ll be allocated an academic tutor when you first join us. They will meet with you regularly to review your progress and provide academic support, advice and guidance.

Student peer mentors

During welcome week, you’ll be buddied up with a student mentor from one of the year groups above in the medical school. They will provide you with informal advice and tips on anything from study tips to the best places to eat.

Colleges

¶¶ÒõAPPµ¼º½ is a collegiate university, and you can access a range of support through your college support team.

MBChB Hub

The MBChB Hub is a dedicated online resource for information about studying medicine and surgery at Lancaster.

A ¶¶ÒõAPPµ¼º½ student on placement in a hospital

Your placements

You will begin placements in Year 2, 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.

Course structure and progression

Over five or six years, depending on your entry route, you’ll build the knowledge, skills and experience you need to become a confident, capable and compassionate doctor. You’ll start by learning the foundations of medical science and clinical practice, before progressing to hospital and community placements where you’ll apply your learning with real patients. Each year builds on the last, increasing your clinical exposure, responsibility and readiness for medical practice.

year-on-year overview of medicine and surgery accordion

Stories from our students

Our students share their experiences of studying medicine and surgery at Lancaster

Catherine

Catherine

I chose Lancaster for medicine because of the smaller year groups in comparison to other universities. I liked the more communal feel as well as how beautiful the campus is. Our year group is very close! You get to know everyone over the five years and build up such an amazing community and support network. It means there's always a friendly face to talk to when exams are coming up.

Pranj

Pranj

For my Year 5 elective, I had the opportunity to travel to Malaysia for a month. I shadowed a consultant neurologist, and it was fascinating to see the variety of cases that I had only read about in textbooks before. It was also comforting to see how much trust and respect patients had for their doctor, which felt really motivating.

Medicine and surgery student, Ewan, holding a football trophy

Ewan

Lancaster offers a very inclusive and welcoming environment. The colleges make the university feel like a smaller family within the wider university, which allows you to build new friendships through the events and sports teams each college offers outside of the people you live with. I play football for my college, Grizedale, and for the medical school team, Medsoc FC.

Medicine and surgery student, Shobana, speaking at a conference in Malaysia

Shobana

One of the best aspects has been the independence the course offers. Lancaster provided a strong structure and support system while still allowing me to take ownership of my learning and develop my own study approach. Another great aspect is the location. Being close to the Lake District made hiking and outdoor activities much more accessible, which was a great way to unwind alongside studying medicine.

Our Facilities

Check out where you will be learning when you study medicine and surgery at Lancaster Medical School

Phone with FHM Tiktok

Student life at Lancaster Medical School

Find out what day to day life looks like for our medical students. Head over to the Faculty of Health and Medicine TikTok account for student insights, behind-the-scenes content and more.