Third-year medical students drafted in

Third-year medical students are to be placed in Stafford and Cannock hospitals for the first time as part of a continued bid to recruit high-quality doctors.

The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has for several years taken fourth and final year students from Keele medical school on its wards.

The practice is part of their training to become qualified doctors. But bosses will now be taking on third-year students too. The shortage of middle-grade doctors was behind the controversial overnight closure of Stafford Hospital's A&E.

This week, health bosses said they hoped to restore a pilot service before Christmas but turned down an overnight re-opening.

Consultant Dr Nick Bosanko, who will teach the new intake, said: "Everybody at Mid Staffs recognises that if we provide an excellent experience, this will result in high-quality doctors wanting to come back to work on our wards when they qualify."

The link with Keele University was set up 15 years ago and in 2009 the trust was granted associate teaching hospital status.

The scheme sees students work on the wards as well as being taught the skills they need. Professor Andew Hassell, director of undergraduate programmes at Keele, said Mid-Staffshire had proved an excellent placement for their fourth and final-year students. "They have given very positive feedback on their experiences and have been complimentary on the welcome and support they have received from nursing and therapy staff, as well as medical staff.

"We are very pleased that Mid-Staffs is also going to host third-year students this year. We feel confident they will get a solid grounding in hospital medicine there.

"We also hope that our students will be able to give something back to the patients attending the hospital by enhancing patient care in any way they can".

On the day of their arrival at Stafford, before joining the medical staff, the students will each shadow a nurse for a shift.

Dr Bosanko said: "This will show the students it is vital to appreciate how the rest of the hospital team works and also focus their minds on the fact the patient is at the heart of everything we do."