Undergraduate teaching in UK general practice: a geographical snapshot

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• General Practice Training
• Healthcare Accessibility

Background:

• Undergraduate medical education relies on general practice placements, currently comprising 13% of UK clinical placements.
• The capacity of general practice to sustainably increase undergraduate placements is uncertain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map the geographical distribution of UK undergraduate general practice teaching sites.
• To determine the travel distances and times from host medical schools to these practices.

Main Methods:

• A national survey of all 33 UK medical schools was conducted.
• Postcodes of 4392 general practices were collected, de-duplicated, and mapped.
• Distances and travel times (car and public transport) were calculated using Transport Direct.

Main Results:

• Practices were widely distributed, with a median of 142 per school.
• Median travel distance was 28 km, 41 minutes by car, and 72 minutes by public transport.
• 24 schools had over 20% of practices inaccessible by public transport.

Conclusions:

• General practices are geographically dispersed, offering potential for widespread undergraduate teaching.
• A considerable travel burden is associated with these widely distributed placements.