A THIRD of medical students to graduate from Keele University this summer have stayed in the area – helping to solve a manpower shortage in the local NHS.

Twenty-nine of the 87 to pass their finals this summer have been appointed as junior doctors at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS).

Although the school only opened seven years ago, it is among the top third performers in the country for student satisfaction, lecturer-pupil ratios and academic achievement.

Its record has made it one of the toughest in the country for applicants to secure a place.

Launched as an "add-on" to Manchester University, it now runs its own curriculum and the first students to have the title "Keele" in their degree will graduate in 2012.

It has broken with traditional teaching methods by insisting students spend time learning their craft in GP surgeries as well as at the hospital.

The local availability of freshly trained doctors has helped the UHNS overcome shortages which were threatening some services five years ago. And as the numbers to emerge continue to grow, health officials say they will overcome a looming lack of GPs in Stoke-on-Trent.

Dawn Wickham, assistant chief executive of the city's primary care trust, said: "A significant number of GPs will retire in the next five to 10 years, but over time the new medical school will produce doctors who will remain in the local area. This will assist in the numbers available, who will, more importantly, have trained within existing practices in Stoke-on-Trent.

"While there is still work to do, recruitment is not as big a risk as it was three to five years ago."

Professor Richard Hays, head of the School of Medicine, said: "We were all pleased to see so many successful medical students and their families here at Keele for the graduation ceremony.

"They've worked hard for five years and are graduating with a firm grounding in medicine, which puts them in a great position for taking on their Foundation training jobs.

"It's great to see so many of them staying to work in the local area. We congratulate them all on their achievements and wish them long and successful medical careers."

Hospital medical director Robert Courteney-Harris, pictured left, said: "The school has been an enormous success – there were no failures at all this year, and in surveys students rate Keele as being a vital, lively place.

"And the benefits for local healthcare and the population are starting to trickle through."

Graduate Catherine Colquhoun starts work next week at the hospital's A&E unit and sexual diseases department.

The mother-of-two, who is in her 30s, said: "I enrolled at Keele because a friend already there recommended it. It is a great school. The support both in school and in placements at hospital or surgeries has been brilliant.

"I am from Chester but I quickly took to North Staffordshire and bought a house in Hartshill. My children are settled in local schools so I was delighted to get a job at UHNS.

"The medical school is a friendly, vibrant place and I liked how the course sent us into primary care as well as hospital."

Of the 87 doctors to pass their exams, 29 are going to UHNS, three to Stafford Hospital and the rest to hospitals in Shrewsbury, Telford and Birmingham.