A number of medical students at the University of Leeds are being requested to work additional shifts and at weekends on top of their placements.

A leaked email from Dean of Medicine Professor Paul Stewart, obtained by The Mail on Sunday, reveals that fifth-year students are being asked to ‘rise to the occasion’ and take extra work.

Although the students are not being forced to work the extra hours and are said to be keen to help, the shifts are unpaid, and come at a time when the NHS is under increasing strain.

Whilst it is unclear as to why the students are urgently required. One anonymous student has described the plea as ‘desperation’.

Although Leeds Teaching Hospitals’ major A&E departments performed better than the national average in the most recent NHS waiting time statistics to be released, 14.9% of patients going to A&E at the trust’s hospitals were not being treated within the four-hour target for the week ending fourth of January.’

Image: University of Leeds School of Medicine

Jamie Taylor