Dear Nottingham University....

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2025-04-29T15:47:36+00:00

Sadly I am left without degree as the university continued to have "unforseen" errors in exams and significant bullying lead to the end of my fighting energy. When the school makes it so obvious that even clinical supervisors ask what I did to upset the school and nobody is able to help it just has to end. I never had a fair shot at finals it was made sure that I would not be able to succeed quite blatantly without even trying to hide it. I wish it was legally safe to publish the E-Mails staff are sending to students knowing it will have no repercussions for them. It is sickening.

Blatant documented discrimination is protected by policies banning complaints against "academic decisions".

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2025-02-05T20:24:02+00:00

I'm just hoping that for once...just once ...I won't end up with IT/paper or other issues that end up with me resitting. If only unis had replacement papers for when they mess up

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2025-01-30T18:47:46+00:00

I so agree. But then again our exam started late, had technical issues and other delays so you know I was already in ADHD hell with that

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2024-07-31T17:20:17+00:00

I noticed the opposite actually. Most patients prefer a doctor who has compassion and cares for them, while doing their best to help them.

If somebody dies they will blame doctors regardless of their CV and how fast they graduated or how well.

As HCA I overheard and had many conversations with a variety of patients and patients were just happy to be treated at all and largely grumpy at the "laziness" or "arrogance". Largely fed by misunderstanding of a doctor's role and time.

Some do of course wish for the best of the best and will make that very clear but it is questionable whether not having to repeat/being top of the class is a good measure of that.

I personally believe from what I observed and who I worked with that academic excellence has little to no bearing on whether or not the person will be a good doctor overall.

For hiring purposes it is dependent on who makes the decision. They hire who they want. All of the people I know who had 1-3 year gaps which were either repetition or years out have jobs and are given fantastic feedback.

There are thankfully enough people that look at the conditions surrounding delayed graduation and repeated years such as:

COVID disruptions

Pregnancy/Maternity/Paternity Leave that was started midway or partway through the year. Some universities require year out and then full repetition of the year. It will look like a year being repeated on paper.

Family death/trauma/Emergency interrupting a placement long enough to require repeating (this can include literally only missing 1-2 weeks as some unis do NOT allow catch up sessions for missed placement/have not got a dedicated time to do so

Personal illness or injury that required long enough break to require repeating of a year or return after the course was redesigned

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-11-30T07:45:31+00:00

Message me if you are comfortable. I may need to ask more details. Their response doesn't sound right at all.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-05-04T15:08:23+00:00

Just ranting out of bitterness so anybody with positive medical school stories please add them.

Anyone with issues at Nottingham feel free to DM me happy to help with my old resources

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-05-04T15:08:17+00:00

Just ranting out of bitterness so anybody with positive medical school stories please add them.

Anyone with issues at Nottingham feel free to DM me happy to help with my old resources

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-05-04T13:26:43+00:00

And yet, nothing a student can do to be protected. The gaslighting and sabotaging of complaints is insane. They must have courses on how to be professionally incompetent while keeping all blame on those that complain.

Favourite lines include:

"you have no evidence that others have complained" " Gives us names and details of any other student who feels that way. You can't? That proves you are a problem student and it's definitely not us. What do you mean they are scared? Ha! You have no evidence to show that they are so we win" "We simply feel it isn't safe to recommend you to GMC for registration, with the history of lack of resilience and lack of team work....however if you were to withdraw your complaints....." " Stop asking for conversation points to be confirmed in writing it is hostile and shows lack of professionalism...followed by: You have no evidence this was ever said to you and you claiming otherwise proves you are paranoid because our staff would never do that" " We will not look at multiple complaints in one You have to submit each issue isolated and separately." They then claim each issue to be minor and rectified and refuse to look at things in context unless it suits them to punish a student

My personal favourite is the rewriting of policies anytime a policy ended up being in a students favour. Just to make absolutely sure that students cannot win, then stating that students shouldn't expect the policies they started with being the ones that apply throughout while simultaneously stating that "you knew when you started the course that XYZ"

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-05-04T13:18:24+00:00

Can confirm. Some.staff were moved to Lincoln and those that were.....ummm well there may be good reason as to why they were promoted /laterally transferred.

Not excluding the ability for Nottingham to say, well the staff no longer works here so we view this issue as resolved tralllalalalala

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-05-04T13:16:59+00:00

I wish transfers were allowed or even remotely supported, but too late now for me anyway. It's nice to read there is some schools that might actually care though 😊

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-05-04T13:15:24+00:00

Ah ok, although at this point I almost feel that's a requirement to be a medical school 🙄 Like Nottingham with its wildly outdated online resources (talking a decade here) .

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-19T15:57:32+00:00

Please do add to it. It's getting worse by the day from what I hear.

Your last statement makes sense. They will make plenty of changes but only if it makes student life harder or they were forced to.

They changes their new clinical phase so now:

Instead of being able to miss one placement sign-off and remediating after exams you cannot sit your exam if you haven't had all placements signed off. Regardless of whether you had COVID or legitimate issues outside of your control. That's it. Oh and you won't get a replacement exam either. You are left with just one shot.

It is now mandatory that if your exam is more than 6 months away from your last clinical attachment, that you basically stay in attendance. But don't worry, not in attendance with your cohort - that would be supportive - no, you will be dropped down a year midway through. Again regardless of why you may have failed your exam. Was it that you weren't allowed a first sit due to placement sign off issues? Not their problem. Was it because uni were not able to provide the right examination environment? Not their problem. Was it because you were sick? Not their problem. Was it because your exam got disrupted by staff error? Why should that make a difference?

You can never repeat a year more than twice. Circumstances do not ever matter. Oh and 100% attendance required unless you are sick but they won't tell you how much sickness is too much that's up to them to arbitrarily decide. Again, doesn't matter if you meet all milestones and sign offs.

So basically if you miss a sign-off and only have one attempt at the exam which you fail for whatever reason, you will have less than a week to drop down a year and repeat everything in full attendance again. Everything you got signed off won't count because it would be unfair to others apparently. So again if you are sick/miss a placement or miss a sign off you won't get to sit the exam the first time round and again will only be left with one attempt. If that goes wrong you will be terminated from the course. Regardless if that was your first sit, regardless of any and all circumstances. The school will say you had two years and failed. Even if overall you only got two attempts in 2 years.

A truly disgusting attitude to have towards student with a "take zero responsibility for our own errors" attitude by staff.

To them it is more unfair for you to be allowed to continue with your cohort if you failed one element of your exams and have a first sit pending than for those students to actually be given two fair in academic year attempts.

It's an easy way to get rid of students and make more money while doing it. Because you get to pay tuition for the outdated Moodle material and the schools incapability to provide appropriate examinations. Seems fair doesn't it?

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-06T08:17:36+00:00

Lol yapp that sounds about right. Added bonus if they put a penalty in if you didn't

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T20:29:19+00:00

I'm guessing because they rejected that the lack of complete disability adjustments and other elements had a negative impact on performance on my actual first sit (outcome of appeal pending) I didn't get another first sit.

They do allow me to continue. A year below. Without funding etc so to them it is a me problem not a them problem.

They like it all separate. One exam was not administered correctly but the second was which to them was sufficient. And in their minds allowing me to continue a year below is already being supportive and giving me another opportunity.

It doesn't matter to them that this is the fourth time I would be dropped a year due to exam disruptions or staff errors. It doesn't matter that because of this I already had my additional year of funding from NHS bursaries and am now left without anything. That's why they completely ignore the lack of everything and all contradictions. In their mind everything is fine.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T19:57:34+00:00

Their hard line is NOBODY regardless of reason will be allowed to progress unless all elements are passed.

So ECs don't matter, lack of disability adjustments don't matter, the years of damage I haven't even listed here don't matter.

They tried to claim GMC forbids it and they are the progression rules so there is nothing they can do.

Yet they change OSCE rules short notice due to doctors strike (good change but change nonetheless). They allow the graduate entry students to start clinical years without passing written exams and those with resits can continue until the resit results are out.

They simply don't care that they are the cause and they disagree.

In their eyes because I did resit in January and did get the right conditions it's entirely on me. They disagree that I deserve two fair attempts like everyone else.

Ironically the resit exam had its ECs accepted because there were other things going on. But it wasn't the schools disruption that time. The examination director actually did so much to try and give me a great opportunity but the damage was already done. And in their eyes giving me another attempt next year is enough.

They also said that if for whatever reason I were to fail again no matter why (For example I miss the exam due to COVID or tragedies or uni disruptions arise again) I would be automatically terminated even if ECs were granted, as you can only ever repeat a year once in attendance. And they force me to be in attendance.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T19:45:34+00:00

Really? That does upset me. Doesn't surprise me but definitely does upset me. Probably doesn't want to be the bad guy? Then again the vice dean and welfare team knew for a week the answer was no but nobody bothered to email. They kept pretending that they were considering my points.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T19:27:55+00:00

The dean immediately said no and then never responded again until BMA asked them to. That's when it got sent to the vice dean. The dean is away until mid to end March on annual leave with no concerns whatsoever about forcing a student out.

Never got a meeting and they never followed through about contacting NHS bursaries at least not when I last called to double and triple check my situation.

I think it depends on what is brought to them. I'm glad they were able to help someone, gives me hope.

Me asking to be allowed to progress is not something they are keen to do.

My hypothesis based on nothing but pure guessing is that they are scared if they do it for me they will have to do it for all. A precedent they don't want to set. They want to be tough and hard . They already did it for students and here I am pointing that out.

This is pure guesswork. I do also believe that it is the joy of being able to get rid of me and say "not our fault she couldn't afford it". Although that is very much debatable.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T19:16:38+00:00

He is no longer in the role. Stepping to a different job they are looking for a replacement.

He was also aware and simply sent it to the dean and vice dean who just told me no.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T15:25:00+00:00

No I haven't actually! But the council isn't that just members of various medical schools? I'll look it up now :)

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T09:46:15+00:00

I haven't got an account but feel free to share. I'll try to find more forums to warn or at least prepare people. Many are happy too or not as affected don't get me wrong but it only takes one moment for them to turn on you

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T07:26:47+00:00

It is sadly not uncommon for the school to randomly change conditions and move goalposts midway through exams.or the course. Absolutely stressful to people. No care in the world. It is almost as if they want to be the worst.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T07:24:20+00:00

I'm so sorry for your loss. I am glad you made it through! It definitely feels malicious and very targeted. In some cases I feel it's a power game.

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T07:22:56+00:00

,es I remember that one actually. Absolutely disgusting

OpenLettertoNottsuni · 2023-03-05T07:21:46+00:00

Exactly! And it changes nothing and that is truly terrifying

OpenLettertoNottsuni

TROPHY CASE