Final year medical students at Sheffield automatically fail their attempt at the ‘Prescribing Safety Assessment’ if they test positive for COVID.

Students in Sheffield are required to pass this exam before they can qualify as doctors (other universities allow them to graduate without passing, and allow students to take the exam during their first year of working as a doctor). 

They only have two opportunities to take this exam this year, which means if they are unlucky enough to have COVID on both sittings, they will not be able to work as doctors in August and will have to defer a year.

With COVID levels at high levels in the UK at the moment and students expected to attend placement, where staff sickness from COVID is overwhelming the NHS, it’s likely some students will fail their exam by default because they test positive for COVID.

We are particularly concerned about the effects of this rule on our students from disadvantaged backgrounds who need to work part-time to fund their studies, who may be at increased risk of catching COVID.  Students living in larger shared houses (which often have the cheapest rent) are more at risk of catching COVID. 

We are also concerned that this rule will mean students end up not testing themselves, in fear of testing positive and failing their exam.  This could result in the exam itself being a super spreader event, with students then attending hospital placements and spreading the virus further to vulnerable patients. 

The exam is already taken on a computer, so it makes no sense to have this exam in person considering the current COVID situation. We would like the opportunity to sit this exam remotely if we have COVID or have a chance to retake the exam, without being penalised for the exam we missed just because we tested positive.  If this is not possible, we would like Sheffield to not make it mandatory for students to pass the PSA in order to graduate. 

If you are a Sheffield medical student please sign.