Black Caribbean students have a poor educational attainment in comparison to white students and even their African counterparts. Just 3.5% are expected to achieve Grade A or above in 3 subjects at A-Level. In 2019 only 45% of Black students secured a higher education place. This has the knock-on effect of limiting their access to medicine.
Across the 33 medical schools in the UK only 238 were registered as Black Caribbean (compared to 23,376 white students in 2017/18).
At BCDD we are passionate about changing these statistics. Our vision is that in the UK the number of doctors and dentists of Caribbean heritage will be representative of the UK population. We aim to increase representation in medicine and dentistry and hope to do so through our outreach programme.
Through our programme we work with schools and community organisations to show young people what a career in medicine is like. We run workshops explaining our journey into medicine and dentistry and also explain what is required to pursue a career in these fields. We hope that through visual representation young people will be able to identify with us and realise that a career in medicine or dentistry is accessible to them and achievable.
We have also worked with young people to assist with applications to medical school and work alongside African Caribbean Medical Mentors (ACMM) to provide mentorship through this process.
We firmly believe in the saying ‘You cannot be what you cannot see’ and therefore believe that our outreach work is of extreme importance in widening participation and increase the numbers of Caribbean doctors and dentists in the UK.
