§ Baroness Greengrossasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether there is an upper age limit for entering state-funded medical training. [HL428]
§ Lord WarnerAlthough the Government set the target intake to medical school, all aspects of selection and admission are the responsibility of individual universities and medical schools. There is no upper age limit for entering medical school. In 1999, after a period of consultation, the Council of Heads of Medical Schools (CHMS) produced a set of guiding principles for the admission of medical students. The Department of Health welcomed these principles, which CHMS commends to medical schools to ensure good practice in equal opportunities throughout all the United Kingdom's medical schools. They state that "Medical schools welcome mature students who satisfy the selection criteria, but will take account of the length of postgraduate general and specialist training that doctors are required to undertake".