University of Hertfordshire Advances Medical School Opening to Address NHS Needs

The University of Hertfordshire has announced that its new medical school is now scheduled to commence operations in September 2026, a full year earlier than initially planned. Situated in Hatfield, this institution will mark the first of its kind within the county and aims to admit up to 70 students annually for medical training. The school will provide a five-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree, with the recruitment process already initiated. Professor Mairi Watson, the university’s deputy vice chancellor, stated: “We have brought this forward in response to a wider need for more doctors in the NHS and for more integrated care across the NHS.” Hertfordshire Medical School will be housed in a dedicated area within a specially refurbished building on the College Lane campus. Professor Watson remarked that, considering the existence of medical schools in Cambridge and north London, establishing one in Hertfordshire was “long overdue.” She further added: “By the fifth year there will be 350 medical students who will be working during their placements in Herts, Bedfordshire and west Essex.” According to the University, Hertfordshire currently has 0.5 general practitioners (GPs) for every 1,000 patients, a figure significantly lower than the national average of 2.8. This announcement coincided with Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s recent call for a “no-holds-barred, sweeping review” of NHS performance in England, delivered at the NHS providers conference earlier this month. Professor Watson described the establishment of the medical school as a “very expensive endeavour,” but clarified that “it won’t just be the medical school that opens in 2026.” She explained that the university is “a good way along the journey in its plans for a new Health Building which will cater for both doctors and the rest of its allied NHS professionals.” She also noted that recruiting international students is “a very common way to start medical schools in the UK, but that those international students will be here in the UK and undertaking their placements here and many will stay once they graduate.”