Physio students at City St George's 'will gain the skills and experience they need to succeed'
Students who opt to study physiotherapy degrees at City St George’s – the name given to a university that will be created following a planned merger involving two of London’s major higher educational institutions (HEIs) – will be joining a ‘health powerhouse’.
That is the message delivered by Elisabeth Hill, who is currently deputy president at City, University of London – an HEI that is poised to merge in the summer with St George’s, University of London.
Students who are currently studying physiotherapy at St George’s have been reassured that their programmes and academic support will not change, while their campus, located in Tooting, south London, will also remain the same.
City St George’s will become one of the largest higher education destinations for London students and one of the largest suppliers of the health workforce in the capital.
Commenting on the implications of the merger, details of which were announced yesterday (22 February), Professor Hill said: ‘Studying physiotherapy at City St George’s will equip students with the skills and experience they need to succeed as future healthcare professionals.'
August deadline
Professor Hill noted: ‘Students will benefit from studying in a clinical setting, adopting a patient-centred approach from the outset and working with students and professionals from a range of disciplines, helping them gain valuable insight into working as part of a multidisciplinary team.
‘The merger will give students a bigger student community, access to greater resources and interdisciplinary opportunities, increased support and, over time, more streamlined processes.’
Subject to receiving the necessary regulatory approvals, City St George’s, University of London and will begin operating from 1 August – although full integration will inevitably take longer. The combined institution will be led by Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, currently the president of City.
Staff will have TUPE protection
Physiotherapy lecturers and other staff who are currently based at George’s will transfer to City St George’s from the beginning of August 2024. They are expected to join City’s current school of health and psychological sciences – creating a larger, combined school of health, medicine and psychological sciences.
A 'health powerhouse'
Professor Hill added: ‘St George’s will bring medicine, pharmacology, biomedical science, and allied and global health to complement City’s health offering which includes nursing, midwifery, speech and language therapy, psychology, and optometry. One of very few institutions offering this breadth of expertise, the combined institution will constitute a “health powerhouse” for students, researchers, the NHS and partners.’
Studying physiotherapy at City St George’s will equip students with the skills and experience they need to succeed as future healthcare professionals [Elisabeth Hill, City, University of London]
'Exciting opportunity for innovation'
Former government chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance – who is a St George’s alumnus – said: 'I trained as a doctor at St George’s and subsequently joined the staff, teaching, undertaking research in pharmacology and working as a consultant physician in the hospital. St George’s has always been an institution where the medical school and the hospital have been closely joined in the mission to improve health and advance the understanding of and treatment of disease.
'It took a bold decision when it moved from central London to Tooting to meet the needs of the population and it has built an impressive independent profile.
Sir Patrick added: 'This latest decision to combine with City and create City St George’s will bring a broad range of allied health professions together with medicine into a single institution and provides an exciting opportunity to train the next generations of medical and health professions in an innovative way and to undertake the research needed to improve patient care.'
[The merger] will bring a broad range of AHPs together with medicine into a single institution and provides an exciting opportunity to train the next generations of medical and health professions in an innovative way [Sir Patrick Vallance]
City and St George’s announced that they were working on a proposal to create a combined multi-faculty university in March last year. They hope that the merger will create opportunities to generate ‘significant change’ in the world of healthcare.
This includes changes to treatment, population health monitoring, workforce development and leadership, policy and advocacy. The merger ‘can also facilitate the development of additional degree programmes and training and development opportunities, including in lifelong learning’, the HEIs said.
Author: I A McMillan
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