GKT School of Medical Education

GKT School of Medical Education (abbreviated: GKT) is the medical school of King's College London. The school has campuses at three institutions, Guy's Hospital (Southwark), King's College Hospital (Denmark Hill) and St Thomas' Hospital (Lambeth) in London – with the initial of each hospital making up the acronymous name of the school. University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital are also teaching hospitals for GKT School of Medical Education. The school in its current guise was formed following a merger with the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals on 1 August 1998.[2]

GKT School of Medical Education,
King's College London
TypeMedical school
Established1173 (St Thomas's hospital as 'teaching hospital')
1550 (St Thomas's Hospital Medical School)
1909 (King's College Hospital Medical School)
1982 (United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals)
1998 (Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine)
2005 (King's College London School of Medicine)
2015 (King's College London GKT School of Medical Education )
Parent institution
King's College London
DeanProfessor Tim Lancaster
Academic staff
315
Administrative staff
450
Students2200[1]
Location
London
,
England
CampusGuy's Campus
ColoursNavy blue, Gold, Purple, White, Red
AffiliationsUniversity of London
Websitewww.kcl.ac.uk/schools/medicine

The medical school has an annual intake of around 400 places on the standard MBBS Programme, 50 places on the Extended Medical Degree Programme (EMDP)[3] and 23 places on the Graduate/Professional Entry Programme (GPEP), and an additional 2 places on the GPEP course for Maxillofacial (MaxFax) Entry. The intake numbers vary year to year.[4] It receives more applications for medicine than any other UK medical school and as of 2016 applicants were required to sit the University Clinical Aptitude Test.

The medical school is ranked 8th in the world, as adjudged by Times Higher Education (THE) in its World University Rankings 2015–2016 by subject (Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health Results), commenting that "...While the overall strength of these countries has dipped, some of their institutions have moved against the tide. One of these is King's College London, which makes its debut in the top 10 (eighth)."[5] As to QS World University Rankings (Medicine) 2016, the school is ranked 21st globally.[6] The school is ranked 27th in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2018.[7]

Name

The School was named the GKT School of Medicine between 1998 and 2005. However, due to confusion over the official name of the institute, especially with regards to research emerging from the university, it was rebranded as the King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Guy's, King's College and St Thomas' Hospitals.

In 2015, to reflect the strong history of the multiple institutions that comprise the medical school, the School once again rebranded as the King's College London GKT School of Medical Education.[1]

History

1820 engraving of Guy's campus entrance by James Elmes and William Woolnoth
A renaissance oil painting of St Thomas' Hospital, where the St Thomas's Hospital Medical School was founded

The hospitals associated with King's College London GKT School of Medical Education, i.e., Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital (hence the GKT name and abbreviation), are: "amongst the oldest hospitals in the world, having endured the Black Death, the plague, the War of the Roses, the Great Fire of London, the Blitz and over 60 years of NHS reforms.".[8] University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, are also associated with King's College London GKT School of Medical Education.

Of the GKT School of Medical Education teaching hospitals, St Thomas' Hospital is the oldest and was founded in 1173 but whose roots can be traced to the establishment of St Mary Overie Priory in 1106.[9][10][11] Thomas Guy, a governor of St Thomas', founded Guy's Hospital in 1721 as a place to treat 'incurables' discharged from St Thomas'.[12]

St Thomas's Hospital Medical School was founded in 1550 and was sited across St Thomas' Hospital and Guy's Hospital. In 1769 it was decided that Guy's would teach mainly medical subjects, whereas St Thomas' would focus on surgery[13] and the joint teaching institution was generally known as The Borough Hospitals. However, a dispute between the two hospitals regarding the successor to Sir Astley Cooper resulted in Guy's Hospital establishing its own medical school in 1825. After this, students of surgeons attended operations at both hospitals until 1836. A riot between students of the two hospitals broke out in the operating theatre at St. Thomas's in 1836 which ended the arrangement.[14] St Thomas's Hospital Medical School and Guy's Hospital Medical School were two of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK.

In 1982 the two medical schools decided to merge and formed the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, more commonly known as UMDS. It was enlarged in 1983 when the Royal Dental Hospital of London School of Dental Surgery merged with Guy's Hospital Dental School, and again in 1985 with the addition of the Postgraduate Institute of Dermatology.[15]

Initially students of UMDS were allocated to one of the two campuses, with most preclinical teaching and all clinical teaching being separate. With the intake of 1989, students ceased being allocated in this way, and teaching for all students was divided between the campuses and their peripheral hospitals.

Discussions between King's College London (which had trained medical students since it was established and founded its own hospital, King's College Hospital, in 1840) and UMDS regarding a further merger began in 1992. UMDS was subsequently absorbed into King's College London on 1 August 1998,[2] forming the Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, more commonly known as GKT.[16] In 2005, the entity was rebranded King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Guy's, King's College and St Thomas' Hospitals, also known as KCLMS. However it is still widely known as GKT amongst current students, graduates and consultants who consider themselves affiliated to the hospitals rather than the university.

In 2005 the dental school became the Dental Institute and the remainder was renamed the King's College School of Medicine. The dean, Robert Lechler, oversees the running of both the Medical and Dental schools, as well as the School of Biomedical Sciences (all three were formerly regarded as GKT before the rebranding).

Before the start of the 2010/11 academic year, Physiotherapy became a part of the School of Medicine, having previously been run by the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences.

Hospitals

King's College London GKT School of Medical Education is associated with the following hospitals:

It is also associated with several peripheral hospitals around the South East of the UK, including Medway Maritime Hospital, William Harvey Hospital and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital. Students are required to spend at least part of their training at these peripheral locations.

Campuses

Guy's Campus

Guy's Campus is situated close to London Bridge and the Shard on the South Bank of the River Thames. It holds New Hunt's House Library and building, Hodgkin Building and Wills' Library, Henriette Raphael House and Guy's Hospital.

St Thomas' Campus

The surviving pavilions (since 1868) at St Thomas' campus

The St Thomas' Campus in the London Borough of Lambeth, facing the Houses of Parliament across the Thames, houses parts of the School of Medicine and the Dental Institute. The Florence Nightingale Museum is also located here.[17] The museum is dedicated to Florence Nightingale, the founder of the Nightingale Training School of St Thomas' Hospital (now King's Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery). St Thomas' Hospital became part of King's College London School of Medicine in 1998. The St Thomas' Hospital and Campus were named after St Thomas Becket.[9] The Department of Twin Research (TwinsUk), King's College London is located in St. Thomas' Hospital.

The nearest Underground station is Westminster.

Denmark Hill Campus

The James Black Centre (Cardiovascular Division)
The Cicely Saunders Institute (Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation)

Denmark Hill Campus is situated in south London near the borders of the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark in Camberwell and is the only campus not situated on the River Thames. The campus consists of King's College Hospital, the Maudsley Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN). In addition to the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, parts of the Dental Institute and School of Medicine, and a large hall of residence, King's College Hall, are situated here. Other buildings include the campus library known as the Weston Education Centre (WEC), the James Black Centre, the Rayne Institute (haemato-oncology) and the Cicely Saunders Institute (palliative care), the world's first purpose-built institute for palliative care[18][19]

The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute was opened by the Princess Royal in 2015 at the Denmark Hill Campus.[20] It is named after British philanthropist Maurice Wohl, who had a long association with King's and supported many medical projects.[21]

The nearest Overground station is Denmark Hill.

Admissions

King's College London, generally in 2005, is the sixth-most difficult UK university to gain admission to the, as ranked as Sunday Times.[22] A freedom-of-information request in 2015 revealed that for every 1,764 applications that School of Medical Education received, only 39 offers were made thereby resulting in an offer rate of just 2.2%. For other subjects: Nursery & Midwifery, Physiotherapy and Clinical Dentistry also had one of the lowest offer rates of 14%, 16% and 17%, respectively.[23]

Graduation

Owing to St Thomas's Medical School roots traced to St Mary Overie Priory, medical students' graduation are held at Southwark Cathedral[24]

Also see Graduation Dress of King's College London

Graduation ceremonies for School of Medical Education are normally held in June or July (summer).[25] During summer graduation, the graduation ceremonies are held in Southwark Cathedral; this is owing to St Thomas's Medical School roots that could be traced to St Mary Overie Priory.[24] For those who happen to finish during January (winter), graduands could opt for attending the graduation ceremonies held in the Barbican Centre.[25]

Research

The School's research excellence is recognised worldwide and the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise confirmed King's as one of the top two universities in the UK for health research strength. Around 70 percent of health science submissions from King's were ranked in the top six within the UK.

Currently, the School hosts six MRC Centres,[26]

The two MRC Centres in Transplantation and the Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma in 2008 alone were awarded 'Centre of Excellence' status by the British Heart Foundation with funding of £9 million and a £4 million Breakthrough Breast Cancer Unit was opened in 2009.[29]

The School is also host to its own 'Centre of Medical Law and Ethics', the first of its kind in the UK,[30] and in March 2009, the school was accredited as an Academic health science centre, one of only five in the UK.[31]

Sports teams

Macadam Cup: A GKT and KCL tradition for the past years

Like other medical schools in the UK, GKT has its own sports teams which compete in various student sports leagues and tournaments.

Like most other universities in London GKT sports teams take part in the BUCS leagues and cups and the University of London Union leagues and cups. The GKT teams also take part in the United Hospitals Cup, which is a sporting competition played between the medical, dental and veterinary schools of London in all sports. The two most popular and biggest of the competitions include the United Hospitals Bumps (rowing) and the men's rugby.

GKT has a fierce sporting rivalry with King's College London. This rivalry led to the founding of the Macadam Cup in 2004, which pits GKT and KCL sports teams against each other. The championship is named in honour of Sir Ivison Macadam, an alumnus of King's. So far in Macadam Cup's history, the GKT Team has the most wins.

Notable alumni, academics and staff

References

  1. "King's College London – About". www.kcl.ac.uk.
  2. "No. 55085". The London Gazette. 1 April 1998. p. 3780.
  3. "Extended Medical Degree Programme". www.kcl.ac.uk.
  4. "Medicine Graduate/Professional Entry Programme". King's College London.
  5. "World University Rankings 2015–2016 by subject: clinical, pre-clinical and health results". Times Higher Education World University Rankings. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  6. "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 – Medicine". QS Top Universities. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  7. "Medicine Rankings". Complete University Guide. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  8. Agha, Riaz; Agha, Maliha (2011). "A history of Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' hospitals from 1649 to 2009: 360 Years of innovation in science and surgery". International Journal of Surgery. 9 (5): 414–427. doi:10.1016/j.ijsu.2011.04.002. PMID 21530696.
  9. "The Foundation of St Thomas's" (PDF). p. 1.
  10. "A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related Services in Britain 1066–1999" (PDF). p. 11.
  11. "Our history".
  12. "Guy's Hopital Medical School:Records".
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 21 December 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Aleph main menu". King's College London.
  15. "Aleph main menu". King's College London.
  16. "St Thomas's Hospital Medical School Records". AIM25.
  17. "St Thomas' Campus". King's College London. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  18. "Denmark Hill Campus". King's College London. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  19. "King's College London – Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation". www.kcl.ac.uk.
  20. "HRH The Princess Royal opens one of the world's leading neuroscience institutes". King's College London. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  21. "King's awarded £10m for world-leading Hub for Neuropsychiatry Imaging Research and Therapeutics". Science Business. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  22. Coates, Sam; Elliott, Francis; Watson, Roland. "The UCAS points system". The Sunday Times University Guide 2005. London. Retrieved 30 July 2006.
  23. "Breakdown of undergraduate admissions statistics – a Freedom of Information request to King's College London" (PDF). 11 July 2015.
  24. "Venue Information". Archived from the original on 17 September 2015.
  25. "Locations". Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  26. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 June 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  27. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/news_details.php?year=2009&news_id=1086
  28. "Press release: £250 million commitment to UKCMRI". MRC National Institute for Medical Research. 26 March 2010. Archived from the original on 21 June 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  29. "King's College London – Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine". King's College London.
  30. "King's College London – The Dickson Poon School of Law". King's College London.
  31. KCL Medical Prospectus 2010

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