Who are the UKCCC?

We are the UK Council for Clinical Communication in Undergraduate Medical Education

Communication, with patients, family members, and colleagues is a core part of good healthcare and for almost 20 years, the UKCCC has championed the discussion and sharing of good practice in the teaching of communication skills in undergraduate medical education in the UK.

We have more than 125 members from 45 medical schools across the UK, all of whom share a passion for effective and engaging person centered communication training for our future doctors.

Find out more about the history of the UKCCC

A seated group of UKCCC members watching a presentation during the meeting in March 2024.

128

Council representatives

45

Medical Schools across the UK

47,000+

Students taught clinical communication every year

20

Years of experience

Our aims

– Disseminating good practice.
– Promoting collaboration between schools.
– Encouraging scholarship.
– Developing collaborative research.
– Influencing policy.

Download the UKCCC constitution

Working Groups

We have formed temporary working groups from interested faculty members for tasks such as:

– The communication curriculum.
– Creating a UKCCC resource for online learning of communication skills.
– The scenario bank.
– A guide for students writing in the Electronic Patient Record.
– UKCCC website development.

The UKCCC Officers

The UKCCC officers hold their posts for two years. UKCCC representatives nominate themselves for a role and are voted in during a UKCCC members meeting.

Prof Janet Lefroy

Chair

I am a GP 2 days a week and Lead for Consultation Skills Years 1 to 5 at Keele University School of Medicine 2.5 days per week. I am also faculty lead for Health Professional Education research at Keele.

Harvey Wells

Deputy-chair

I am a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Communication Skills at Queen Mary University of London.

Dr Suzanne Stewart

Secretary

I am a GP and currently work 2 days a week in practice. I am a coach with the local Professional Support and Wellbeing Service (PSWS) and support trainees in the area.

I have been a clinical communication skills tutor at The University of Oxford for over 20 years. Recently, I have been more actively involved the course design and delivery. I took up my current position as remediation and course development lead in April 2022. I am a keen, very amateur, potter.

Dr Ching Wa-Chung

Treasurer

I am a GP and a Senior Clinical lecturer at the University of Aberdeen. I have been treasurer for UKCCC since 2019. I continue to have an interest in clinical communication, and am also involved in undergraduate assessment and admissions.

Dr Leeanne Bodkin

Co-treasurer

Clinical skills team developing and delivering education for medicine MBChB, Physician Associate PA and Advanced Clinical Practitioner ACP programmes.

I lead clinical communication across the curriculum as well as professionalism and interprofessional learning.

Dr Caroline Sprake

Recruitment Officer

I am a GP partner, GP undergraduate teacher and GP trainer at the practice and Course Director for our LIC (longitudinal integrated clerkship) for year 4 students at Newcastle University. The LIC provides immersive experience with patients with long term conditions and those journeying through peri-operative care.

Special interests include shared decision making, motivational interviewing and clinical reasoning. We have a new communications lead Sarah Graham across all years and I work with Sarah to ensure the teaching of communication skills in clinical years is fit for purpose.

I currently support the UKCCC in ensuring all medical schools across the UK are encouraged to have members on the council and translate what it means to be part of our community of practice to encourage the very best resources and ideas for our individual communication skills curricula.

Claire Mimnagh

Administrator

I am the part-time administrator for the UKCCC. I manage membership subscriptions, communication with members and develop and maintain the website.

I am also a communication trainer. I deliver SAGE & THYME communication workshops, about listening to worries and emotions, to health and social care workers. I also train other people to facilitate these workshops.

Blogs about the UKCCC

Find out more about the history of the UKCCC, what it’s like to be a member and how we use communication scenarios in teaching sessions with undergraduate medical students.

View all blogs

Generic colourful abstract illustration of people's heads overlapping.

Talking History: UKCCC, past to present

Dr Sarah Collins, former Chair of the UKCCC, talks about the history of the UKCCC in this blog.

What is it like to be a member of the UKCCC?

Dr Caroline Sprake, former Chair of the UKCCC, talks about what it’s like to be a member of the UKCCC in this blog.

Members of the UKCCC are UK medical schools. The UKCCC representatives for those medical schools must be working in clinical communication in undergraduate medical education.

If your medical school is not already a member of the UKCCC and you would like to join us, please email our administrator who will arrange for your institution to be billed annually for membership fees, add you to our mailing list and database, create up to 4 user accounts for your school on our website.

ukccc.adm@outlook.com