Fitness to Practise

We welcome applications from students with disabilities and health conditions (both physical and mental). A disability or a health condition need not be a bar to becoming a doctor if the student can meet the outcomes set out in the GMCs Outcomes for Graduates . However, it is important that disabilities and health conditions are declared so that any reasonable adjustments required during the application process and during course are put in place.

Note that dyslexia falls into the disability category as mistakes in prescribing can have serious results if dyslexia is not declared and if protective measures are not in place. Independent assessment of dyslexia is therefore important.

The application for admission provides applicants with the opportunity to disclose a disability and the University of Aberdeen encourages early disclosure. Early disclosure enables the University to work with you to ensure that appropriate support systems are in place during the admissions process and during your studies.

The University's Disability Advisers are the main point of contact for discussing any requirements you may have. They are based in the Students' Union Building (Top Floor), Elphinstone Road, in the Student Advice and Support Office, Student Support Services. If you think it would be helpful, you are welcome to contact a Disability Adviser for a confidential discussion on your application. More information can be found on our web pages at www.abdn.ac.uk/disability or by email: student.disability@abdn.ac.uk

Detailed consideration of individual cases is only possible by referral to Occupational Health for a full assessment. This is undertaken separately from the selection process and only once a provisional offer of admission has been made and accepted.

In exceptional circumstances, admission to medical school may be refused and a provisional offer withdrawn on grounds of fitness to practise. The General Medical Council has made recommendations (Gateways to the professions and Supporting medical students with mental health conditions ) concerning Student Health and Conduct. Medical Schools should not admit students who would not be able to meet the outcomes set out in Outcomes for Graduates, even with reasonable adjustments in place.

All applicants must declare criminal offences on the application form. Any declaration will be further explored and further details will be required.

All entrants to the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutriton must join the Disclosure Scotland PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) Scheme. Applicants who accept an offer of admission to Medicine in Aberdeen will be contacted prior to the start of term and guided through the process of application through Disclosure Scotland for this criminal record check. Non-UK domiciled entrants will be required to supply the university with equivalent certification from their home government. This documentation must be received as soon as possible to allow consideration of the individual circumstances by the University prior to the commencement of studies.

Not all convictions will result in being barred from the profession. Should potential applicants have uncertainty about a declaration, the Admissions Office will be able to offer advice about a future application to Aberdeen

Applicants with serious criminal convictions may be refused entry on grounds of fitness to practise. Failure to declare information, which directly relates to your Fitness to Practise will result in the termination of your course.

Occupational Health wish to know about any disabilities or health conditions that may affect students in their training so that, where appropriate, advice can be given to the School of any support needs students may have and how these can be provided for. Information is also required about conditions which could pose risk to patients so that these can be assessed. Consideration can then be given to how any risk can be avoided, whilst assistance is provided to help students successfully complete the course. This can be achieved with most health problems and disabilities, even if substantial.

As a potential future doctor, you have a duty to provide relevant information to the school's medical advisers, NHS Grampian Occupational Health Service. Failure to disclose information about a physical or mental health problem that could affect patient safety would be a breach of this duty and could result in disciplinary action. All medical and sensitive personal information you provide will be held in confidence by NHS Grampian Occupational Health Service. The school will only be informed of the effects of a health problem or disability, if relevant to your educational needs or patient safety, and of recommendations on support or adjustments that could be of assistance to you.

Applicants who are made an offer will be asked to complete a health questionnaire. Only the questionnaires of applicants who ultimately take up a place will be reviewed by Occupational Health.

The University is mindful of its overriding duty of care for the public with whom medical students are in close contact. We therefore follow national guidelines on blood borne virus infections and tuberculosis in undergraduate medical students, which are very similar to those that apply to healthcare workers.

For more details please see the attached documents

• Medical and dental students: Health clearance for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV and Tuberculosis
• HEOPS Medical Students - Standards of medical fitness to train
• NHS Grampian TB Screening Process

All new students must undergo standard health clearance which requires evidence of immunisation against (or immunity to) diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella.

In addition the Occupational Health Service will arrange for blood samples to be taken to test for Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV antibodies or antigens and Tuberculosis screening as appropriate. New medical students do not need to arrange to be tested for and/or immunised against these disease by their local General Practitioner before commencing their studies.

For your own protection and that of your future patients, you are advised to commence a schedule of Hepatitis B immunisation. Where indicated additional immunisations may also be offered including MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella), Varicella and BCG (Tuberculosis).

In the rare circumstance that a student is shown to carry the Hepatitis B or C virus or HIV, he or she will be referred to the Occupational Health Service for confidential advice, counselling and treatment if indicated. This does not mean that he or she cannot train to be a doctor but there may be restrictions on the student's clinical training and on his or her medical practice following qualification. In particular there are likely to be restrictions on his or her ability to perform what are termed exposure prone procedures (EPP). EPP refers to procedures where there is a risk that injury to the worker may result in exposure of the patient's open tissues to the blood of the worker. Surgery is an example of an exposure prone procedure.

Admission will be subject to satisfactory review of those applicants registered with professional regulatory bodies. Applicants must declare any regulatory or professional issues that have been upheld or are ongoing.

If you are unsure about whether or not you should make a declaration then you should contact the medical admissions team.

If you do not disclose a matter that could reasonably be considered to be of relevance to your future fitness to practise at the time of admission, this may be detrimental and in itself impact on your Fitness to Practise.

The Medical Schools Council, the Dental Schools Council, the Pharmacy Schools Council and Veterinary Schools Council (‘the Councils’) have established an information-sharing system to enable universities with medical, dental, pharmacy and veterinary schools to share information about students who have been excluded on fitness to practise grounds from courses leading to entry to one of those registered professions.  This is known as the Excluded Students Database (the Database).

The purpose of the Database is to protect the public (including patients, carers and owners of animal patients) from risk and to prevent fraudulent applications to courses which lead to entry to these registered professions in the UK.  It is a mechanism to ensure that other schools are made aware of students who have been excluded from a school on fitness to practise grounds and who may then reapply to other schools.  

Information on the Database is relevant to decisions made by universities when deciding whether to offer a place on a relevant course to an applicant. By sharing information, a university is able to know whether an applicant has been excluded from a school or programme on fitness to practise grounds by another UK school and can be provided with the outcome of the previous student fitness to practise matter to consider when making a decision about admission to the school.

The University of Aberdeen  is one of a number of universities that has signed up to the  Excluded Students Database for sharing information on students with the Councils identified above provided the following conditions are met:

1. students were on a course leading to entry to a registered profession; and,
2. they have been excluded from the school or programme on fitness to practise grounds. 

The Database is administered by the Medical Schools Council (MSC). Information about their security measures and retention periods is set out in the Excluded Students Database (Appendix 1) 2025

The information about you which we obtain from the Database check will be held by the University of Aberdeen as a data controller in accordance with the requirements of data protection law and its Data Protection Policy. It will be retained by the relevant programme in a secure location in accordance with the data retention principles set out in our Data Protection Policy.

It is a condition of the offer to study on a relevant programme that applicants must undergo a satisfactory Database check.  This is because the University believes that it is necessary in the substantial public interest to protect members of the public from improper conduct or the potential unfitness of students with whom they may have contact. We therefore take steps to check whether applicants have been withdrawn from a relevant professional programme. Due to the nature of this check, and the clear importance for the protection of the public and patient safety, we rely on this as the reason for processing this information under data protection law and consequently do not ask for your consent to carry it out.

What information will be shared and how

No information is provided to the Database until the University’s appeal or case review process has been completed, but once the appeal or case review process has been completed if the decision to withdraw stands, the following details will be added by the University to the Database:

• Known name(s) of the students (including any changes of name)
• Current gender and gender a birth
• Date of birth
• Name of the school which the student was excluded from
• UCAS ID
• Photograph
• A copy of the outcome letter at the end of fitness to practise proceedings. (Note: - this would only be made available by the MSC once a match has been identified – for 48 hours only)

The details of students who do not progress or graduate for any reason other than fitness to practice (e.g. academic reasons) will not be added to the Database.

Who can access the database?

The University has nominated 2 individuals who can access the database.

How is that information used?

It is a condition of the offer to study on the relevant programmes at the University that applicants must undergo a satisfactory Excluded Students Database check. The University will check the identity of each applicant to one of the relevant programmes against the Database to see if there are any matches. If there are, the University will ask the MSC to provide the outcome letter to consider as part of the application processes. If a positive match is received from a Database check, the University will consider the issue in more detail.

The Medical Schools Council, Dental Schools Council, Pharmacy Schools Council and participating universities/schools will never use the data supplied for any purpose other than that set out above.  More details can be found in the Excluded Students Database (Appendix 1) 2025