A fast-track medical degree for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals has been launched by King’s College London to enable existing patient-facing NHS staff to become doctors.
The Healthcare Entry Medicine MBBS programme is four year course, and will support pharmacists, nurses, physician associates, paramedics, physiotherapists and midwives to train to become doctors more quickly.
The fast-track medical degree is due to open for applications via UCAS this September, with the first students enrolling in August 2026.
King’s College London is the first Russell Group university to offer a fast-track medical degree for healthcare professionals.
It is separate to the University’s graduate entry medicine course and is designed to ‘leverage the clinical expertise and experience’ of applicants.
As such, candidates must hold a 2:1 undergraduate degree and have at least two years full-time equivalent experience in a patient-facing healthcare role. Completion of the University Clinical Aptitude Test is required as part of the admissions process, as well as submitting a personal statement and reference.
The fast-track medical degree will focus on ‘key areas such as foundational bioscience and population health’, while having a reduced focus on early clinical practice, which ’applicants will have already mastered in their current roles’.
Teaching will take place at partner hospitals, including Guy’s, King’s College and St Thomas’ Hospitals. Candidates will gain hands-on experience through clinical placements at a wide variety of hospital and community care settings including district generals and general practice.
Commenting on the launch of the fast-track medical degree, Professor Nicki Cohen, dean of medical education at King’s College London, said: ‘King’s has a long-standing reputation for excellence in medical education. This new course opens the door to a diverse pool of talented professionals who are already making a difference in patient care and wish to take the next step in their medical careers.’
