Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Class of ‘25: First Derry doctors to pass through Magee Medical School give course a glowing prognosis
Derry Journal
Follow
yesterday
Class of ‘25: First Derry doctors to pass through Magee Medical School give course a glowing prognosis
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
My name is Sorka Hill. My first degree was French and Irish from Queen's University.
00:06
I worked for some time in Dublin before I decided to come back and try to begin this new course.
00:12
So amazing, you really jumped from humanities, that sort of thing, a total different change of direction.
00:19
I had hoped to do medicine school, but things never worked out that way for me.
00:23
And I'm glad now, looking back, I had a great experience with my first degree, but it wouldn't have let me be where I am today.
00:28
Yeah, so I'm Seamus McMinn, originally from Dublin, and my previous background was working in the Irish language.
00:37
And part of that time was spent actually working in the Irish department at the University of Ulster.
00:43
Fair way. Now, how are you going to be doing, Augustine, how are you going to be doing?
00:47
I'm going to be doing it. I'm going to be doing it.
00:50
So it was a natural sort of choice when I heard that graduate medicine was going to be done at Ulster,
00:57
open up here in Magee and Derry, that definitely piqued my interest.
01:02
And in that summer of 2020, I decided to start studying for the entrance exams and make a real effort to get there.
01:12
It's a really interesting path to take.
01:14
I was speaking to another graduate, and she came from Irish language and language background too.
01:20
Yeah, yeah. The one thing it always gives you is interesting stuff to talk to patients about, you know,
01:27
that when they realise that you've been through, you know, different paths in life as well.
01:35
So, but I think in line with the theme of, you know, the speeches there today, you know, that whole thing,
01:44
life's only understood when you look back at it, you know.
01:48
Yeah.
01:48
And hopefully for everybody here today, this all makes sense for them and represents, you know,
01:55
achieving something they really, really wanted to do.
01:58
Now, just tell me a bit about your own background and how you came to the Graduate Entry Medical Program here at Magee.
02:03
Yes, so I actually did a degree in Pharmacy at Queen's first, and so I completed that degree,
02:08
and then I did my pre-registration training to become a pharmacist.
02:11
And it was during COVID, I had just decided that I thought that I wanted maybe to go on and think about doing medicine.
02:19
It's always been something that was in the back of my head, and I think with everything that went on in the pandemic,
02:24
I saw the opportunity in this course come up and decided to apply, and thankfully got an offer, and here we are today.
02:30
So, did that kind of sway you when you saw the pressure that the NHS was under?
02:36
Yeah, definitely.
02:36
We knew there was workforce issues, and you would have seen that on the pharmacy side of things?
02:40
We had a lot more people coming into the pharmacy over that time, and it was very, very busy.
02:44
Yeah, yeah.
02:44
And I think you can definitely see the pressures on the health service as a whole,
02:48
and I just happily motivated me to go on and compete what I wanted to do at the study medicine.
02:55
I was a dentist by trade.
02:57
I graduated 23 years ago in dentistry, and I'm married to Emma, and we have, we're very content,
03:03
and we have a very happy life with good family support.
03:06
But in 2020, I decided I wanted to switch to medicine, and I've had great support from everybody to do that,
03:12
and I applied to the course here at McGee, and I was very thankful to get a place,
03:16
and I've worked hard for four years along with my classmates, and it's been very successful.
03:21
Yeah, and what was your overall impression of the course?
03:25
Like, not like this in Derry before, but it started from scratch, but everybody has a very good word on it.
03:31
Yes, we've always told it was a spiral curriculum, and we would cover material, then come back to it,
03:38
come back to it, which you don't appreciate until you've actually been in it for four years,
03:42
and you realize that there's been a lot of material that's been really well covered,
03:46
and covered again and again and again until you start to remember it and understand it.
03:52
So it's been very well designed.
03:54
There's been ups and downs.
03:55
It's been tough over some days harder than others, and some dark mornings during the winter.
04:00
Yeah, yeah.
04:01
But today makes everything worth it.
04:03
What was your experience of the graduate entry medical program that we've got in McGee?
04:08
It was more than I imagined it could have been.
04:11
It was so special to be the first intake, the first cohort,
04:14
and the welcome that we got from day one of the course from both the people of Derry and the wider area
04:20
and in the hospitals was just immense.
04:22
Yeah, and you were kind of forged in fire because you came in there and you were doing your experience.
04:28
That's when I was at the worst possible time then.
04:31
Absolutely.
04:32
But we haven't felt too much of that heat and we have only just felt like we have been warmly welcomed
04:37
and people are grateful to see the medical school finally up and running in the area.
04:41
And where to now?
04:42
So I was fortunate enough to get my top choice.
04:45
I'll be in Belfast for my F1 in the Royal and coming straight back to Derry to help McGelvin for my F2
04:51
and hopefully stay beyond that too.
04:53
That's exactly what we want to hear.
04:55
It's a really positive story.
04:57
It's not just for all your personal journeys, but just workforce issues within the health service.
05:02
We need you guys.
05:03
Yeah, and even like the history of university here in this city, you know, that it's now a flagship institution
05:14
that's in Derry, that's staying in Derry.
05:16
And the hope would be that along with that institution of the school actually being there,
05:22
that everything else that Derry deserves will flow.
05:27
Infrastructure, you know, proper payment for people who do home care, nurses,
05:36
that all of that will flow from having the School of Medicine here in Derry.
05:40
And where to now for yourself in terms of your own medical...
05:44
Luckily, I was able to get out McGelvin.
05:46
Excellent.
05:46
So I was starting there at the end of July.
05:53
I'm delighted to bring 10 or 12 others from our year group who'll be starting in out McGelvin as well.
06:00
So I'm delighted to be able to serve, you know, some of the community that we spent the last four years
06:09
studying in and practising to become doctors.
06:12
It'll be really nice to be able to serve them and look after them.
06:18
As Colin was saying there, just to serve the community, like, you know?
06:21
Yes.
06:22
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:23
I suppose when you came into it and you were doing your placements and things like that,
06:27
it was probably the worst time that the medical profession locally had ever experienced.
06:31
It was like, you were really...
06:33
Well, it was strange because we were the first cohort.
06:35
We got the impression that we were a massive boost to people and everybody was very excited to see us.
06:40
Yes.
06:41
And lots of our staff are working in hospitals and they'd be telling everybody we were coming.
06:45
Yes.
06:45
So we were very much a bit of an novelty and very much well-received and everybody was very welcoming to us.
06:51
Yeah, yeah. Excellent.
06:52
And where to now for you?
06:53
So I'm going to work in Antrim area hospital with my F1 job and then Nevada in North Belfast and my F2 job.
06:59
Right.
06:59
So I'm very much looking forward to that.
07:00
And your reflections on the course, if you were selling it to people who I think maybe did something completely different
07:06
and wanted to try something new.
07:08
Can I do better?
07:09
It's a brilliant degree.
07:10
And the staff take you through everything from the start.
07:13
They're able to kind of give you more information, a lot of support around the course for getting started.
07:18
I think honestly it's one of the best things I've ever decided to do.
07:21
I've made so many new friends, learned so many new things, had amazing opportunities, met so many new people.
07:28
And everyone has been so supportive and so lovely in teaching us and supporting us in our learning.
07:33
And where to now for you?
07:35
So I'm actually off to start my first job in Craigavon.
07:38
So I'll be heading down that way for August.
07:41
Yeah, yeah.
07:41
So it's straight in there.
07:42
Straight in.
07:43
A little bit of a break, isn't it?
07:44
Yeah, a little bit of a break and then straight in.
07:46
And where are you from originally?
07:47
I'm from Belfast.
07:48
Belfast originally, but you came up here to do this course here?
07:50
I came, I moved to Derry for the course, yeah.
07:52
Excellent.
07:52
And up there, it was great.
07:53
I really, really enjoyed it.
07:55
And needless to say, everybody who's come through the School of Medicine and now become doctors today,
08:04
gives their full support to the School of Medicine and anything that is needed in the future
08:09
to either help bolster it up or advance and progress it on.
08:14
Absolutely, there's that great sense of, you know, we all did it together.
08:19
And it was only because the School of Medicine was there and that we were all there for each other
08:23
that it made the last four years possible.
Recommended
6:25
|
Up next
Junior doctors stage first ever strike over pay in Derry and call for work to be properly valued
Derry Journal
06/03/2024
4:52
Professor Malachy Ó Néill’s 20-20 vision for Derry Medical School sees doctors settling after training in the city
Derry Journal
27/11/2020
6:25
Magee Taskforce final report December 16, 2024
Derry Journal
16/12/2024
13:38
Watch: Official launch of Magee Taskforce interim report recommending push for 10,000 students in Derry by 2032
Derry Journal
11/09/2024
1:00
Junior doctors: Why they are striking as almost 200,000 hospital appointments rescheduled
National World - LocalTV
20/04/2023
0:42
Three Derry students have been awarded healthcare scholarships
Derry Journal
21/11/2022
2:18
Laura Jane The Label video
News Letter
yesterday
2:14
'Start a riot' comment from Kneecap at Glastonbury 2025 (BBC)
News Letter
2 days ago
0:37
The aftermath of an ATM raid in Greenisland, Co Antrim
News Letter
6 days ago
46:26
The Real Derry: Jamie-Lee O'Donnell
Coffee&TV
31/10/2024
44:22
World's Most Dangerous Road 2023 - 01x06
Coffee&TV
31/10/2024
26:09
The Lovers - 01x03 - Episode 3
Coffee&TV
23/05/2024
3:16
New Zealand: 'in a league of their own?'
World Rugby
16/11/2015
2:17
Rugby World Cup legends kick off RWC 2015
World Rugby
18/09/2015
6:44
Colin Melville urges new Derry doctors to heed example of John Hume ahead of retirement as GMC Medical Director
Derry Journal
yesterday
0:52
Class of ‘25: ‘Choosing UU Derry was choosing hope’ says Kurdish-Irish law graduate Enas Mousa
Derry Journal
yesterday
7:06
Joe Gill: Major aviation report identifies Derry as ideal for new air hub that could create hundreds of jobs
Derry Journal
yesterday
1:22
Sorcha Hill Magee Medical graduate
Derry Journal
yesterday
1:51
Fiona Kearney Magee Medical Graduate
Derry Journal
2 days ago
1:47
Kyle Adair Magee Medical School graduate
Derry Journal
2 days ago
3:30
Séamus Mac Floinn Magee Medical School graduate
Derry Journal
2 days ago
2:19
Louise Dubras recognised as leader of ‘heart, vision and integrity’ who brought Derry Medical School to life
Derry Journal
2 days ago
1:59
History made as Derry’s first cohort of Medical School graduates recite medical oath after rapturous applause
Derry Journal
2 days ago
1:03
Mayor welcomes Derry’s first cohort of Medical School graduates after historic ceremony
Derry Journal
2 days ago
3:31
'Huge shortfall' in Donegal homes with only 382 new builds last year when at least 1,200 per annum needed, says TD
Derry Journal
5 days ago