(a)   the opportunity to address the panel was welcomed. Plymouth University hoped to continue to work closely with the city council;

(b)   the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD) would provide a successful legacy, it was viewed as one of the top ten medical schools in the country and received high scores for satisfaction for courses and teaching;

(c)    PCMD was the first medical school established in England for 30 years and its students treated up to 500 patients a day;

(d)   the ethos of the school was to provide a socially inclusive approach to recruiting medical trainees and addressing health inequalities experienced on the peninsula, which reflected Plymouth University’s alignment with city priorities;

(e)   in 2011, the new Dean and the PCMD Executive wrote to the two Vice?Chancellors of Plymouth and Exeter to express their concerns regarding the governance arrangements and requested that universities revisit the PCMD governance structures;

(f)     it was felt that PCMD in its current format had outgrown current governance and partnership arrangements,  the ability of PCMD to react to the changing higher education and health environment had been hindered by those arrangements;

(g)   both universities announced in January intent to move forward with independent missions, with Plymouth becoming a regional centre for dental research. The resulting two schools would build on the success of PCMD;

(h)   the current position would be that 86 medical students would remain in Plymouth along with 64 dentistry students;

(i)     the university had recently announced investment in health research and the new Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine would ensure patients benefited from research findings through tailored treatment plans in a “bench to bedside” approach.  There  would also be a rolling PhD programme and further investment in state-of-the-art research laboratories and equipment.

(j)     Plymouth University was involved in delivering the city priorities, an example of which included the partnership work at the Tamar Science Park.   The University had a good understanding of the aspirations Plymouth City Council had set for an ambitious city.

(k)    an active Public Health Masters programme would continue and the Director of Public Health for Plymouth was involved;

(l)     PCMD had delivered on providing an inclusive approach to medical trainee recruitment, and frontline services were being provided where needed, such as the School of Dentistry in Devonport.  The location of services and training provided by the future school in Plymouth would be aligned to reflect the health inequalities in the city;

(m)both Alison Seabeck MP and Oliver Colvile MP were consulted, both raised concerns regarding the possible loss of dental school and were assured that the dental school would be an essential component of the future medical school. They had also expressed a sense of loss and asked why the demerger was necessary;

(n)   there had been “retrospective consultation” and there would be a change in the local workforce;

(o)   there had been insufficient engagement with health colleagues, although views from the Devon Local Medical Committee and Derriford Hospital Medical Committee had been considered and further correspondence had taken place.  The NHS would continue to have a right to engage on any curriculum content, there would also  be assurances on placements and there would be no changes to Service Increment for Teaching;

(p)   a medical school with 86 students would not be the smallest in the UK, the proposed numbers would be more than originally bid for.