About Tom's Trust

‘Trust me, I will be a Doctor’ was set up in 2018 in memory of Tom Donaldson, a newly qualified doctor from Derbyshire. Having completed his final exams at the University of Manchester, Tom was on his elective in New Zealand in February 2009 when he died following an accident that resulted in a head injury. Aged just 23, Tom would have helped hundreds of people as a doctor but did not have the chance to make that happen. In Tom’s memory, this Trust supports other young people to achieve their dream of becoming a doctor and help the people Tom dreamed of reaching.

Specifically, this Trust supports young people from backgrounds of social and educational disadvantage in their applications to study Medicine at university, by providing small grants and raising awareness of the work experience opportunities available.

Those underrepresented at medical schools, and therefore targets of initiatives that aim to widen access to medicine (WAM), include people of colour, young people living in the most deprived areas of England and areas with the lowest participation in higher education (HE), state school students, students whose parents do not have HE qualifications, and people with disabilities.

The need

Research in the UK shows that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds face major barriers when pursuing their interest in a medical degree and career. Research by the Social Mobility Commission found that medicine is dominated by those from advantaged backgrounds: 73% of doctors are from professional and managerial backgrounds and less than 6% are from working-class backgrounds. Most university medical students are privately educated or hail from privileged backgrounds (individuals with professional or managerial parents). Research by the British Medical Association (BMA) in 2015 found that 20% of secondary schools in the UK provide 80% of all applicants to medicine. Thousands of disadvantaged students are being restricted from reaching their potential and the demographic of the UK’s medical profession does not mirror the population it serves.

Research by the BMA shows that low income students struggle to get into medical school for many reasons: the schools they attend do not offer the required subjects at A Level; their school does not know how to or cannot afford to support medical school applications; students themselves do not know how to obtain the work experience that is pivotal in securing their place in medical school; their parents do not have the contacts to secure their work experience; and pupils lack the resources needed to participate in work experience (for example, travel costs, buying professional attire, daily subsistence whilst on placement).

Universities now have widening participation and outreach schemes in place to attempt to tackle these issues. A 2009 report found that despite these schemes, there was no change in the socio-economic background of doctors between the 1980s and mid-2000s. However, a 2018 news report reported on the success of “gateway” courses, medical degrees that start with a foundation year, designed to help students who may have faced additional barriers due to their backgrounds. A report in January 2020 from the Medical Schools Council Selection Alliance revealed progress has been made by WAM initiatives over the last five years. However, presenting the report, Dr Paul Garrud, Chair of the Medical Schools Council Selection Alliance, acknowledged that “the numbers involved are small”.

A 2015 ‘Selecting for Excellence’ report recommends the NHS expand the provision of work experience for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with steps including advertising work experience opportunities openly and prioritising applications from those eligible for free school meals, as well as providing reasonable travel expenses. The Tom Donaldson Charitable Trust aims to help meet this expansion and support more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into medical school.

Projects supported by the Trust

In 2019 we supported two projects at the University of Nottingham:

1) We supported the Widening Access to Medical School student society (WAMS) to hold outreach events in schools across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire that met particular widening participation criteria, supporting students with their applications to medical school. We also supported WAMS to hold ‘Dr for The Day’, a one-day event which allowed aspiring medics from disadvantaged background to experience a medical simulation centre at the QMC in which they learnt a range of practical skills including laparoscopic trainers, ultrasound and endoscopy simulations.

2) We supported a student from the University of Nottingham Medicine with a Foundation Year programme to travel to Malaysia to study a module in tropical medicine. Students on the Foundation programme come from neighbourhoods in the UK that are less advantaged in terms of income, education and other factors. The student we supported said that "Most importantly, studying this module has developed my medical and clinical knowledge. Being able to experience Medicine in a totally different healthcare setting has given me a global view of healthcare and how I can contribute positively to that. All of these experiences will allow me to be a better medical student and a more informed, skilled and well-rounded doctor."

We are currently in the planning stages of forming a new partnership with the University of Nottingham and The Armitage Foundation, as the latter look to expand their work in secondary schools across the country to inspire, equip and increase the self-confidence of students who want to study medicine and who come from under-represented backgrounds. We hope to work with the University of Nottingham to support one of highly-accredited The Armitage Foundation's programmes in a school in the East Midlands.

In 2021 we formed a new partnership with In2MedSchool, a charity which supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds with their applications to medical school by providing 1:1 mentoring with medical students and junior doctors, and providing a variety or resources surrounding entrance exams, personal statements, interviews and work experience. Many of their team come from widening participation backgrounds themselves, so bring a lot of knowledge and experience to this work. In 2021 we supported four of the students they mentor in the East Midlands with small grants to cover some of the costs of applying to Medical School. Applications for grants for 2022 are currently open here.

In 2021 we also formed a new partnership with MedicHut, supporting their scholarship programme. We provided £250 to allow one East Midlands-based student from a BAME background to access full support from MedicHut in their masterclasses and guides to aid the student's application to Medical School. We plan to repeat this in 2022.

We have also had meetings with Melanin Medics, a UK-based charitable organisation for the present and future African and Carribean doctor. According to the General Medical Council Data on Medical Students and Doctors in Training Report (2017) , only 3.3% of medical students identified themselves as Black or Black British. In 2021, Melanin Medics launched a new programme focussed on Year 12 Black students across the UK looking to apply to medical school. The geographical remit of our Charitable Trust is the East Midlands, and we hope to support any future participants from this area on the Envision Med programme.

Through our partnerships, The Tom Donaldson Charitable Trust aims to provide information and practical experience to students wishing to apply to medical school who would otherwise struggle to access it, thereby strengthening their applications. On a local level, we will be making our own, small contribution to breaking down the barriers that restrict thousands of disadvantaged students from reaching their potential and mean the demographic of the UK’s medical profession does not mirror the population it serves.

Sponsorship for Challenge Events

This page is always open for donations, and we are very grateful for any we spontaneously receive, allowing us to continue supporting the projects outlined above.

We are also extremely grateful when people take on challenge events and choose to ask for any sponsorship to be directed to The Tom Donaldson Charitable Trust. Previously we have had runners complete the London and Edinburgh marathons.

In 2022, Adam Rouse, a school friend of Tom and his sister Lauren, will be participating in not one, but two challenge events and raising funds for us as he does so. On April 10th, Adam will be completing the Brighton Marathon, and on September 10th, he will take on The Brutal Extreme Triathlon in Llanberis, North Wales. This entails a 2.4-mile lake swim in Llyn Padarn, followed by 112 miles on the bike and finally a 15-mile run along an undulating trail round the lake and up and down Wales’ highest mountain, Snowdon. We are hugely impressed with Adam's efforts and truly appreciate any sponsorship that comes our way as a result. Thank you Adam and all your supporters!