Clinical Education at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor

Studying at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor

Useful information

Before Arrival

Prior to arrival, an information pack is e-mailed to students’ Cardiff e-mail addresses with details of where they are staying, where to collect keys, etc. Keys can be collected from the Friday before the placement begins, from the main reception desk of the hospital, or the security office at the university site. Both are manned 24 hours a day.
Students allocated to Bangor will need to remember to bring their Hepatitis B lab report with them, as this will speed up the registration process. Students wishing to use the pool car scheme will also need to bring the paper part of their driving licence. A placement in Bangor affords an excellent opportunity to explore the surrounding beautiful countryside

Accommodation

Medical students are offered accommodation either on-site at the hospital or on the nearby University campus. Ysbyty Gwynedd hospital is just outside the centre of Bangor and takes about 10 minutes by car or bus (bus services run regularly). There are parking spaces outside the accommodation blocks. The University accommodation is close to the centre of Bangor, about five minutes walk away. The rooms are separated into blocks, and each block has its own kitchen, lounge area (Ysbyty Gwynedd accommodation only) and bathroom (although the rooms in Bangor University accommodation are en-suite). All bedding, kitchen utensils and crockery are provided. Launderette facilities are available, and the rooms on the University campus have free broadband internet access (to be installed soon on the hospital site). Medical students will receive information about their accommodation by e-mail a few weeks before their arrival.

Student Facilities

Students have their own common room which can be accessed 24 hours a day, with student lockers and a TV. There are also kitchen facilities available near the common room with a fridge, microwave and water cooler.
The Clinical Skills laboratories are available for use from 7.00 a.m. until 9.00 p.m. There is a wide range of state of the art equipment available for student use, including SimMan – a computerised life-sized manikin - and various other manikins and models for skills training.

Library

The Library and Learning Centre in Ysbyty Gwynedd is located on the first floor (between the Education Centre and Clinical School). The library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Staffed hours are Monday – Friday, 9. 00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Resources in the library for student use include a number of computers all with Microsoft packages, e-mail, Intranet and Internet access, five WYSE terminals connected to the Cardiff network, free photocopying, printing and scanning facilities.
In addition, the library operates extensive information and enquiry services including access to a number of major bibliographic databases, e-journals and books and guidance to relevant information sources in both the library and elsewhere.

Undergraduate Office

The Undergraduate Office is situated on the first floor near to the Education Centre reception desk. The Undergraduate Manager, Kimberley Thomas, is happy to help with any queries students may have.

Student Induction

Students attend an induction session on the first morning of their placements. During this time they are introduced to each other and to Undergraduate Office staff. In addition to sorting out general introductory issues, timetables will be distributed and explained. Hepatitis B status reports will be collected at this time, and students will sign Occupational Health forms.

Senior Clinical Projects

We offer over 30 projects for students in years 3 and 5 and we are constantly developing new projects. The SCP projects at the Clinical School have proven to be very popular, especially the Mountain Medicine project in which students have the opportunity to fly with the RAF Search and Rescue team in their helicopter. See the separate section for details of all projects, which in addition can be viewed and applied for via Blackboard (Cardiff University intranet system).

Some comments from recent students of the Clinical School include:

The lunchtime teaching sessions […] were excellent. The clinical skills facilities were extremely helpful and accessible.
It was an excellent opportunity to have one to one sessions with the consultant. The registrar also spent some time teaching me which was much appreciated.
There was a good range of teaching sessions on a variety of subjects at Ysbyty Gwynedd
It was [..] fantastic […], thoroughly enjoyable, everybody in the Department was really welcoming and I feel I learned a great deal.
Consultants extremely keen to teach and easy to approach - thoroughly enjoyed it!
I really enjoyed it! The medical and nursing staff spent a lot of time explaining the cases we saw and I felt my understanding […] improved a lot during the week.
A really worthwhile and enjoyable week with excellent lectures covering basic concepts that we all needed to go over and clarify in our minds! Really useful.
[Library] staff were really knowledgeable and helpful and friendly.
It was a real advantage to have a comfortable well-equipped base in the hospital just for us. And because it was brand new it was really nice.
The facilities at this hospital should be the benchmark for all other hospitals.