Student Bursary
THE AWARD OF A STUDENT BURSARY MAKES A REAL DIFFERENCE
Each year The WPH Charitable Trust awards five bursaries to support students who need financial help to facilitate their path through medical school.
This report outlines one such very deserving candidate.
He is the first member of his family to go to University and completed an MPharm degree in 2019, followed by 1-year pre-registration training at a local independent community pharmacy.
However as a result of these experiences, he felt much better suited to a doctor’s role than that of a pharmacist.
He grew up in a very deprived area of the UK where few people ‘make it’ in life.
His brother and parents, originally from overseas, did not speak English and shared a house. Mother had polio aged 2 resulting in a paralysed left leg and had been unable to work whilst his father, was made redundant from his job in a clothing factory during the pandemic.
In addition to these problems his older brother has a rare disability and is unable to read, write or do simple daily tasks such as cleaning himself or wearing clothes properly.
Having been an average student he had always to work very hard from the start of his undergraduate studies whilst also working nearly full- time hours to generate family funds.
Indeed, he had never really considered studying medicine as he thought it was impossible for him, but he was encouraged to apply by his mentors during his 1-year pre-registration training.
To his delight he found out that he did meet the graduate entry requirements for Warwick University and against his expectations was called for an interview and offered a place on the course.
He was ecstatic but a new problem arose to make him rethink this offer.
The plan had been to complete his pre-registration training in pharmacy in July 2021, pass the exam and work during the summer to save up enough money to provide funds for the family whilst studying medicine.
However, the Pharmacy Governing Body announced that they had postponed the registration exam until a future date and this meant that he couldn’t work as a pharmacist because he had not sat this final qualification exam.
It was later announced that this intense pre-registration exam would occur during his first year of medical training and he would have to find another type of job in order to support the family and he was therefore thinking of deferring the medicine entry for a year.
The award of a special academic bursary of £5000 from the WPH Charitable Trust, stopped him having to defer his entry to medicine and also eased the pressure on him having to find a job straight away.
This allowed him to focus more on his medicine and pre-registration Pharmacy Exam Studies. In March 2021 he sat and passed that exam following this he passed his medical school exams in June 2021.
He is now a qualified pharmacist and an upcoming second-year medical student at Warwick.
The bursary therefore has now allowed him to work as a weekend pharmacist, focus on his medical school studies and spend more time with his family.
