Medical students from Keele University are getting an exciting opportunity to explore their future career path thanks to a new partnership with Oswestry’s specialist orthopaedic hospital.

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) has joined forces with Keele’s School of Medicine to offer medical students a four-week placement – marking the beginnings of a relationship between the two organisations for undergraduate teaching.

Mr Stuart Hay, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon specialising in Hand and Upper Limb, has led on the work to introduce this opportunity at the Oswestry-based hospital.

In their fourth year, medical students can go on a four-week placement which focuses on their clinical careers – this is known as Student Selected Component (SSC).

SSC involves exploring postgraduate training, career pathways, life as a consultant in different specialities and spending time with junior doctors, speciality registrars and consultants to help inform career choices.

Mr Hay said: “We welcomed eight fantastic medical students in the fourth year of their studies to RJAH to give them the opportunity to explore a range of specialities as a future career, including orthopaedics, anaesthetics, pain management, radiology and general medicine among more.

“We really worked hard to provide high-quality placements that involved academic teaching and hands-on, more practical interactions.

“I’d like to say thank you to Keele University for their support and for partnering with us. This is something we’re keen to continue to provide in the future.

“I’d also like to thank all the staff at RJAH who got involved with the students on placement – they all stepped up to support the programme and I am extremely grateful.”

The students who came to RJAH for SSC were Mohammed Batt, Samuel Bloomer, Emily Hall, Samuel Kavanagh, Ryan Peysner, Alina Shrestha, Abbie Warden and Tingshan Yan.

 Professor Christian Mallen, Head of the School of Medicine at Keele University, said: “RJAH is an internationally renowned institution that provides an outstanding educational experience for our medical students. We are delighted to be working closely with them, not only on educational placements but also on their world leading research.

“We would like to thank all the staff, patients and their families who are so generous with the time they give Keele students.”