The Medicine Success fund: financial support for widening participation medical students improves wellbeing and increases sense of belonging

Background UK medicine is an elite profession engaging in widening participation (WP) efforts to diversify the workforce so as to better represent the society it serves, and thus, enhance patient care. Despite years of sector-wide efforts, medical students and doctors from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds remain minoritised in medicine. WP activities primarily focus on increasing access to medical degrees, while widening success for WP students once at university is underexplored or addressed. Socio-economic disadvantage shapes the experiences of WP medical students, who face unique financial and social barriers on their journey into medicine. These include financial pressures that affect their mental health, sense of belonging, academic performance and progression. Innovation Designed and delivered in response to our WP students’ experiences and underpinned by an ethos of wealth justice, Lancaster Medical School’s Medicine Success project offers specific financial support to eligible WP students for the hidden costs associated with studying a medical degree. Its purpose is to mitigate structural inequities embedded within the medical curriculum and higher education funding contexts, supporting the mental health and sense of belonging of WP students, together with diversifying the profession and improving patient care. Approach This community case study describes the rationale, context, design, and delivery of Medicine Success. It reports findings from a thematic analysis of qualitative student evaluations of the project over five academic years (2019–2024), reflecting on the impact and wider policy implications of this work. Conclusion Analysis of Medicine Success student evaluations demonstrate that even minimal financial support for WP students reduces stress and increases belonging. The cognitive and emotional impact of financial scarcity on academic performance and student participation should not be underestimated. The core design values of Medicine Success may be transferrable to other medical schools. Curriculum reviews that incorporate a wealth justice perspective, and changes to maintenance funding for medical students are also required.