Widening participation

An alternative for aspiring medics is our free interactive video platform Observe GP. It provides insights into general practice, and is an element of relevant experience when applying to medical school.

RCGP Widening Participation Work Experience Programme

Practices often prefer to partner with an established work experience programme, for example with a medical school, social enterprise or local training hub, to reduce their administration and feel reassured that pupils are suitably prepared.

Since 2016, RCGP have partnered with medical schools around the UK to offer general practice work experience placements to pupils from widening participation backgrounds. The programme was initially developed at the University of Leeds and over one thousand pupils have benefited as a result.

The programme is administered by UK medical schools who select eligible pupils and deliver workshops prior to and after their work experience placement. This model has been accredited as gold standard by work experience experts Fair Train RCGP provide partners with all the materials required, including guidance for practices, and workshops slides. An outline can be found on this programme overview (PDF file, 175 KB).

Partner medical schools in 2019 included: Birmingham, Brighton and Sussex, East Anglia, Exeter, Hull York, King's College London, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Queen Mary, Queens Belfast, Sheffield and St Georges.

If you work for a medical school and it is not listed on the map download the and contact us to discuss partnering with the RCGP member.programmes@rcgp.org.uk

Map of general practice work experience programmes

The below map provides contact details for many of the medical schools who partnered with RCGP on the Widening Participation Work Experience Programme in 2019. It also contains contact details for organisations and medical schools who coordinate similar initiatives. Each of these programmes rely on GP practices to offer to host work experience placements and we encourage practices to make contact if there is an initiative listed in their locality.