In a month that has seen our news and communications dominated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we are proud to share some positive news stories from within our student community.

UoN medics

260 final-year medical students who have passed their final exams and completed their clinical skills and fitness to practice assessments will graduate early on Wednesday 8 April.

Under normal circumstances they would start their Foundation Year 1 training in August, but have been given the opportunity to opt in to the Foundation Interim Year 1 programme led by Health Education England. This will allow them to carry out a range of duties, such as note taking, ordering investigations and completing discharge work under the supervision of senior doctors.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and we are incredibly proud that our talented graduates are able to step up to support the NHS in its hour of need, responding to the unprecedented pressures created by this coronavirus pandemic.

UoN nurses

Meanwhile in the School of Health Sciences, almost 200 student nurses will go into extended paid placements for a minimum of 12 weeks.

As of Tuesday 7 April, 172 of these student nurses are expected to stay at local Trusts across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

In light of current restrictions around the coronavirus pandemic, UK graduation ceremonies have been postponed but our early-graduating medics will still have the opportunity to celebrate at a later date.

On behalf of everyone at the University of Nottingham, we would like to extend our congratulations and gratitude to our nurses and medics for their effort in supporting the NHS.