A new partnership between The Acorn Foundation and Bay of Plenty Medical School will provide an annual scholarship for a local medical student in their third or fourth year of study through the Clinical School at Tauranga Hospital.

BOP Clinical School head Dr Peter Gilling says they want to attract the very best medical students to the region in the hope that they stay in the Bay once they've graduated.

Peter Gilling signs the Memorandum of Understanding alongside Margot McCool. Photo: Supplied.

'This region is going to need more specialists and skilled workers as our population grows,” says Peter, 'and this is a great way to encourage the top students to come to the area.”

The annual scholarship will support a student, originally from the Western Bay of Plenty, whose family is not in a position to help them financially through their medical studies. The initial value of the scholarship is worth $4,200.

Acorn operations manager Margot McCool says healthcare services are going to come under increasing pressure as the population grows and ages.

'We see this as an excellent investment for the future, as well as an effective way to encourage our brightest young people from the region to come back and work here,” says Margot.

Established in 2003, the Acorn Foundation receives endowment gifts from people during their lifetime or are left bequests in their will.

The capital is invested and income generated is then distributed to a wide range of community groups.

The Bay of Plenty Clinical School was established by the District Health Board in 2007 to develop training and research initiatives that would attract healthcare students and encourage them to return as employees once qualified.

The school has since supported the clinical training of around 480 undergraduate medical, nursing and allied health students per year at Tauranga Hospital, Whakatane Hospital and in general practices in the Bay.