Priti backs further expansion of ARU medical school
Priti Patel, the Member of Parliament for Witham, has backed plans to expand the medical school at Anglia Ruskin University.
During a visit to the ARU campus in Chelmsford, Ms Patel met with the recently appointed new Dean of Faculty, Professor Jacqueline Kelley, as well as heads from the school of medicine, school of allied health & social care, school of midwifery & community health, and the school of nursing to discuss expansion of the medical offering at Anglia Ruskin.
Priti was involved with supporting the initial work to develop ARU’s school of medicine, which in 2018 received investment from the Government to support 100 new places. ARU was the first university to host a medical school in Essex, and the previous expansion in March of 2018 was the first time publicly funded places had been allocated to a new medical school in more than a decade. This included work on a £20million building at the Chelmsford campus, which provides state-of-the-art skills facilities, specialist teaching spaces, a lecture theatre and an anatomy suite.
Following her visit, Priti said: “It was great to meet with Professor Kelley and heads from the medical school. Further expansion of these programmes at ARU will help secure more doctors to live and work in Essex, which in turn helps develop and support local healthcare services.
I was very supportive of the initial expansion which saw 100 new places supported through Government investment, and we are starting to see the results with graduates from ARU now working in our local healthcare sector.”