Medical students are allocated to Clinical Education Campuses (CECs) for the third and fifth years of their studies. However, students are not guaranteed a place at a hospital in Manchester.
In recognition of the commitments of elite sportspeople, some students are exempt from being placed outside of Manchester in their third year. The policy enables a select group of students to keep up with their sporting commitments.
“Students who are an elite sportsperson will be identified to the Programme by the UoM Sport Department. An elite sportsperson is someone who is competing at a Junior National Level being supported on a University Sport Scholarship or on the University Sport Performance Programme. If this student intends to continue with their top level sport during clinical years (Years 3-5), they may be allocated to a Manchester clinical education campus in order to facilitate attendance at sporting events”.
The Mancunion has heard several medical students’ concerns about being placed in Preston, 27 miles outside of Manchester. For many sportspeople, being placed at a hospital outside of Manchester would mean that they would be unable to keep up with a busy training schedule.
At UOM, the men’s football first and women’s netball first teams are considered to be Performance teams. This means that medical students playing for these teams will be placed in a Manchester hospital for the third year of their studies. However, students playing for the women’s football first team do not qualify for this exemption, amongst several other women’s first sports teams.
The Mancunion spoke with a third-year medic who plays for the women’s football first team. The student, who did not want to be named, had thought the exemption would apply to her but found that it did not when she was allocated a CEC place in Preston.
The student lives in Manchester to play football when she can, and commutes to Preston daily for her placement. As a result, she is unable to attend half of her weekly training sessions and cannot make it to the start of weekly matches.
“I’m half in Preston, half here. I get to football as and when I can. I also have to work to pay for fuel to commute”.
“I can never make Friday training sessions because of my timetable, and with the commute home I’m stuck in traffic for ages”.
“Half the reason I chose to commute was because of football. It was a big, big part. I love the team, I love the girls, I love playing. It’s literally part of who I’ve been my whole life”.
Had she not been placed in Preston, she would have been in the running to captain her team this year.
“I just personally didn’t think it would be fair to be captain and not be able to be there half of the time.”
“Now I’m the person who tries to come and play as and when I can, not someone who should be leading the team this season and helping everyone win the league”.
“I’m just trying to be there when I can, and it’s really frustrating, because I just don’t feel like there is a lot of support”.
The student has played football to a high level since she was “very young”, having previously played for Arsenal and Milton Keynes Dons, and attended England camps.
“When I was younger, I didn’t know that you could just play football as a woman. So for a long time I was debating: football or Medicine?”
“I gave up my elite football status for Medicine at Manchester”.
The student said that this was a decision she regretted because of the “lack of opportunity and support at Manchester”.
The student would have been exempt had she applied to be a Sports Scholar when she applied to the University. However, by the time she found out about this, she was told it was too late to be exempt as CECs had already been allocated.
“I was told that even if I was a sports scholar, or I could demonstrate that I was playing at a really high level, I was told it was then too late”.
The student spoke positively of her football coach and of student pastoral support in Preston, but spoke to The Mancunion of her disappointment in being unable to keep up with her sporting commitments.
“It’s quite an emotional strain. I think I have found it mentally really hard. I think it all becomes quite a lot. It’s quite easy for me to get burnt out, and I think that’s quite sad”/
The Mancunion spoke with two more sportswomen about their experiences, one who did qualify for the exemption and one who did not.
The first student, who did not want to be named, was then a third-year medic who played for the women’s netball first team. This meant that she was guaranteed a CEC place at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, on Oxford Road.
She said that without this exemption she would not have been able to balance the six days a week she spends either training or competing with her placement.
“On many evenings that I have training, I only have 30 minutes to change, eat, and pack my bag after getting home from placement before I need to leave”.
“There have been a few times that I have had to miss matches or arrive late due to my placement commitments, if I was at a clinical campus further away this would be greatly exacerbated”.
“If I were placed in Salford or Preston, I would not be able to continue playing for the university at performance level”.
The student said that she felt the exemption was fair, because elite sportspeople “have a far higher time burden trying to balance sport and medicine”.
“However, I do question whether all students who play for BUCS first teams should be guaranteed one of the Greater Manchester campuses rather than Preston, as being placed in Preston makes playing for the University completely unattainable”.
Despite having been exempt, the student later decided to stop training with her netball team on a national level so that she would have more time for her studies.
The second student, Nyah Clarke, was then a second-year medic who played for the women’s hockey first team. She was frustrated to find that she was not eligible for the exemption.
Nyah was allocated to Wythenshawe Hospital. Her sporting commitments consist of training twice a week, weekly matches, and various fitness sessions and social activities throughout the week. “It would not be realistic coming back from Preston for these things and I would not be able to take the time off from placement to do this either”.
“There would not be the opportunity for me to play hockey in Preston and so I would miss out completely”.
Nyah expressed that she would struggle with her mental health without hockey as an outlet from university work.
Nyah had heard that a fifth-year medic playing for the men’s hockey first team had previously been granted an exemption. On this basis, Nyah asked her club captain to help draft an email to the University to apply for an exemption. The University’s response stated that Nyah was not eligible. Nyah told The Mancunion that she felt this was unjustified.
“As we are all playing to the same level, I believe we should be granted the exemption”.
The Mancunion also spoke with the University’s Sport Sabbatical Offer, Miara Pipe, for her thoughts in response to students’ concerns.
Miara explained that the policy applies to sportspeople assessed on an individual basis to be playing at an elite level, as well as applying to all students on the men’s football first team and women’s netball first team. Miara argued that the exemption of the two particular teams reflected their commitment to their sports.
Miara stated that, in the academic year 2023-4, the exemption had applied to a total of four students, three of which were women from various sports, and one was a member of the men’s football first team.
When asked whether messaging should be clearer to address concerns that the policy is gendered, Miara responded that “communication could always be improved”.
The Mancunion shared the concerns of students we had spoken to with Miara regarding a lack of support for sport, particularly for students on placement in Preston.
Miara emphasised the importance of students continuing to “feel a part of UOM Sport”. She said that maintaining access to sport for placement students was something that she had discussed with the SU, and pointed out that six sports teams have been set up in Preston to do so. “We definitely know that this needs to be publicised more”.
When asked for a response, a University spokesperson said: “While we would love to provide more academic flexibility for all participants in our activities, the numbers are unmanageable in such a course with over 6,000 students in sports clubs alone. Providing support to those who need it most in terms of progressing their sporting career aspirations and balancing dual careers is the fairest solution”.
“Going forwards, the policy will only apply to sport scholarship athletes who are on a dual career programme, so performance teams such as men’s football team would no longer be eligible”.
This change means that students will be considered for exemptions on an individual basis, rather than the exemption applying to the men’s football team and not to the women’s.
