The University of Chester has revealed its vision to create a £40million medical school.

Cheshire, Wirral and Shropshire are three of the few areas of the UK currently without a specialist training facility for doctors – but that could be about to change.

The university has announced it is embarking on a journey which could see residents from those three areas having access to the latest clinical knowledge and research if plans for Chester Medical School come to fruition.

Many of the highly skilled and competent nurses, midwives, dietitians and biomedical scientists in Cheshire, Wirral and Warrington have undergone their training and development at the University of Chester, and doctors could soon follow suit.

University bosses say Chester Medical School would help address both national and local shortages of doctors, particularly GPs and specialists in areas such as mental health and gerontology; enable trusts across Cheshire, Wirral and Shropshire to attract and keep hold of the brightest and best medical staff; and respond to the complex and challenging needs of an ever-expanding older population for community-based professional care and support from a fully-integrated health and social care service.

Aerial view of proposed location for Chester Medical School at Glenesk, off Parkgate Road

When fully operational, the facility to deliver this would create 90 new roles for academic and professional services staff and would amount to an investment approaching £40 million in the development, construction, equipment and other resources.

The university is hoping to construct a 12,000 square metre, state of the art building with cutting edge facilities as part of an extension of its Parkgate Road Campus. Its preferred location is on the university’s land at Glenesk, off Parkgate Road.

An outline planning application for Chester Medical School is expected to be submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council by Christmas and, if approved, construction would start spring 2019, with the new building ready for use by June 2021.

Professor Tim Wheeler, the university’s vice-chancellor, said: “The NHS at a local and national level is a key part of the University of Chester’s activities. The University is now being given a rare and privileged chance to join an elite of 32 higher education institutions with a medical school.

“This is a significant move for the University, but more importantly, it is a potentially life-changing development for the population of Cheshire, Wirral and Shropshire, three of the few areas of the UK that currently lack a medical school, ensuring a continuing supply of GPs and other highly trained physicians.”

The university is already involved with six acute hospital trusts – including a close working relationship with the Countess of Chester Hospital dating back over 25 years and sharing research and training facilitie – two mental health trusts and a host of primary care providers.

Through its Postgraduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Life Sciences, the university successfully specialises in a broad portfolio of Master’s degrees in subjects, ranging from Oncology to Orthopaedics. There are also many community-based activities, including providing cardiovascular rehabilitation services for heart attack patients.

The proposed plot off Parkgate Road has been zoned for the expansion of the University for more than two decades. Although it has not flooded in living memory, extensive landscaping would be undertaken to eliminate any such risks.

Internally, there would be:

Four lecture theatres, with seating capacity ranging from 50 to 300

Six science laboratories

An anatomy and dissection room (including 3D virtual reality tables) and mortuary

Eight seminar rooms

A clinic with consulting rooms, which would focus on older people’s medicine (for example, care of patients with dementia, diabetes and heart disease)

A library and IT suite

A common room

Offices

Learning spaces

Meeting rooms

A brasserie

Reception and administration areas.

Externally, there would be:

A tunnel link under the Sustrans cycleway for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists to and from the Parkgate Road Campus

Parking for 250 vehicles on level, well-drained land, accessed via an internal road

Landscaping, including two lakes

A two-way entrance/exit off Parkgate Road (staggered between the filling station on the same side and Woodlands Avenue opposite.)

Developing the right curriculum takes time and is subject to strict processes and regulations governed by the General Medical Council, Royal Colleges, funding authorities and Department of Health.