School's first doctors graduate

There are currently 11 applicants competing for each place

The first 88 doctors to be trained by the South West's Peninsula Medical School (PMS) have graduated.

They have spent five years studying to be doctors at hospitals across Cornwall and Devon.

Sixty-seven of the students who embarked on their training in 2002 will stay in the South West to practise at the region's five main hospitals.

The PMS is a joint partnership of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth with support from the region's NHS.

Where the new doctors will work North Devon NHS Hospital Trust: 5 Plymouth NHS Hospitals Trust: 19 Royal Cornwall NHS Hospitals Trust: 20 Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Hospital Trust: 18 South Devon NHS Hospitals Trust:5 Outside the South West: 21

Graduating student Billy Headdon from Truro said: "We start as a junior doctor now in what are called foundation jobs and I start off in paediatrics.

"The year's based around three rotations just to start you off as a doctor really. "

PMS says undergraduate retention has been successful, with the school experiencing a drop-out rate of 4.5% compared with the national average of 12%.

There are currently 11 applicants competing for each place - in January 2006 the school was awarded an extra 33 places.

Prof Sir John Tooke, Dean of the PMS said: "My congratulations go to our first cohort of graduating doctors.

"Their commitment to the course they have completed and to medicine has been exemplary, and we look forward to tracing their future careers with great interest."