Undergraduate Primary Care Placements

This Primary Care placement is for year 1 medical students at Imperial College London. It runs from October until March. The aim of the placement is for students to learn about and integrate the biological, psychological and social aspects of health, illness and disease, and relate these to patient experiences and health outcomes. This is the first contact students will have with patients at medical school.

Teaching commitment

Groups of 4 or 8 students will spend 8 Thursdays in a GP Practice over the course of the year between October and March. Practices can choose to take students every week or every other week.

There are four core activities: patient conversations, GP clinics, a community survey project and group tutorials.

There is flexibility as to how these are done.

Practices must commit to the full year (October to March).

Fee information

£6,144 for a group of 4 students every other Thursday
£12,288 for a group of 4 students every Thursday
£12,288 for a group of 8 students every other Thursday
£24,576 for a group of 8 students every Thursday

Placement Lead: Dr Viral Thakerar
Administrator: Mr Michael Goetzinger

This Primary Care placement is for year 2 medical students at Imperial College London. It runs from November until March. The aim is for students to further develop skills in applying the biopsychosocial model to patient care, to practice taking histories and to develop health coaching skills. This will enable students to build on skills learned during PCH in year 1 and prepare them for their clinical placements in year 3.

Teaching commitment

Groups of 4 or 8 students will spend 5 Tuesdays in a GP Practice over the course of the year between November and March. Practices can choose to take students every week or every other week.

There are four core activities: health coaching, GP teaching clinics, a community collaboration project and group tutorials. There is flexibility as to when during the day these take place.

Practices must commit to the full year (Nov to March).

Fee information

£3,840 for a group of 4 student every other Tuesday
£7,680 for a group of 4 students every Tuesday
£7,680 for a group of 8 students every other Tuesday
£15,360 for a group of 8 students every Tuesday

Placement Lead: Dr Viral Thakerar
Administrator: Mr Michael Goetzinger

MICA aims to provide students with a longitudinal learning experience where they will spend 8 or 9 weeks in General Practice. The aim is to provide an immersive experience where students will learn about life as a GP.

As part of the placement students run their own independent parallel consulting clinics in a separate room from their supervising GP. They may visit patients at home and will also complete a Community Action Project (CAP) which aims to make a meaningful difference to the local community.

Teaching commitment

A pair of students will be allocated to you for 7 sessions a week over an 8 or 9 week period.

On a weekly basis this consists of 4 independent clinics (one of which may be an ‘experience’ session), 1 tutorial, 1 visiting session and 1 session for CAP project time.

Students will attend an ‘experience session’ within a specialised clinic arranged either within your Practice or centrally by the medical school. These may consist of the students spending time with other healthcare professionals in the Practice (for e.g. nurses, HCAs, pharmacists) or joining a specialised clinic held at the Practice (e.g. minor surgery, Diabetes, COPD, Asthma).

Students may carry out home visits to patients with long term conditions. Tutorials will be delivered weekly, with topics linked to the clinical skills and methods teaching that the students receive in a hospital setting.

Fee Information

Term 1 - 9 weeks £10,368
Term 2 - 8 weeks £9,216
Term 3 - 8 weeks £9,216

Fees based on 2 students hosted

Administrator: Mr Stephen Platt

GPPHC is our 3-week GP placement for year 5 students. It enables students to further develop their person-centred clinical skills. 

Twenty-one sessions are spent in the practice and students spend their remaining time participating in departmental sessions to support their clinical learning.

Teaching commitment

The GPPHC placement runs 12 times per year and you may apply to teach on as many of these as you wish. Students are immersed in practice life for the 3 weeks, supported by you and your practice team. You will discuss personal learning objectives, provide one-to-one teaching and guide your student to complete essential activities including DOPS (Directly Observed Procedural Skills) and a Patient Project.

Most importantly, students will independently consult with patients under your supervision and receive feedback from you to support their skills development.

Fee information

Hosting 1 student for 3 weeks £2,208 per rotation (maximum 12 rotations per year)

Placement Lead: Dr Neepa Thacker
Administrator: Mr Michael Goetzinger

All students undertake an SCP (Specialty Choice Placement) in year 5. This is a 3-week block where students can explore a specialty that they have enjoyed in more depth or try something new that isn’t covered in the MBBS curriculum.

Do you have a special interest as a GP? Or does your practice offer something unusual in addition to your day-to-day clinics? If so, an SCP could be for you! If you have an idea about an SCP that you would like to set up at your practice, we would love to talk to you more about this. Please complete this form and we will be in touch to discuss further.

Teaching commitment
SCPs run 12 times a year from July – May and you can sign up for as many or as few rotations that would work for you and your practice. The timetable is flexible and students usually spend around 7 sessions per week at the practice.

Fee information
Payment for the placement is £2,016 per student, per 3-week placement (based on 7 sessions/week). Usually, SCPs are designed for 1-2 students.

SCP Co-ordinator: Mr Tom Rozier-Hope

The Year 6 General Practice Senior Assistantship (GPSA) aims to prepare students for future practice by developing their skills in consulting and managing patients independently, under close supervision. Students should be given opportunities to become fully immersed in the work and life of the practice, as they work alongside their supervising GP. They should hold their own clinics so that they can improve their consulting and decision-making processes and start to learn the art of managing risk and uncertainty, all of which underpin high-quality general practice.

The placement assessments are designed to support this learning in practice.

Teaching commitment

GPSA runs five times per year from August to December and you may apply to teach on as many as you wish. Practices for this placement are based outside of London so that students experience general practice in a different setting to placements they will have attended in earlier years. 

The placement is for 4 weeks, with the first and last day taking place at the department for consultation skills and clinical reasoning group teaching. Other departmental teaching will also be organised during the 4 weeks via online webinars.

Whilst on the placement, students will undertake their own GP clinics under supervision, complete a brief quality improvement project as well as two case-based discussions, two mini-clinical evaluation exercises and two prescribing student tasks.

Fee information

Fees are for 1 student for 4 weeks in a UK practice outside London. Practices may request to host up to 2 students if space and supervisory arrangements allow.

£2,784 per student per placement (maximum 5 rotations per year)

Administrator: Mr Stephen Platt