How much work experience do I need for applying to Medical school?

Work experience is a great opportunity to help you decide if Medicine is the career for you and give you an insight into how the healthcare system works. Unfortunately, although work experience is essential for your medical school application, there is no single or right answer for how much work experience is needed in order to have a successful application. However, from my own experience I found that it's not the quantity of work experience that's important, but what you learn and gain from the work experience, as this gave me experiences to talk about both in my personal statement and in medical school interviews.
When I applied to medical school, my work experience included a week shadowing a paediatrician, a few days in a GP practice, 6 months spending 3 hours every Friday afternoon in my local care home and 6 months on a Head and Neck ward for 2 hours a week in my local hospital. Personally, I found that this was more than enough experience for me to confidently decide that Medicine was the career for me and to gain a significant insight into the different types of care and roles within the health care system. It can be difficult to get work experience in hospitals and GP pratices when under 18, so I wouldn't be disheartened if you can't find hospital-based or GP practice placements, as I found my work experience in the local care home was invaluable and taught me a lot about care for the elderly and our ageing population. I found that gaining work experience in care homes was easier than setting up my other work experiences. Overall, I would say there is no such thing as too much work experience, however I would advise that the important thing is not how much work experience you complete, but instead what you learn and gain from the experience. Therefore, I would suggest writing down your experiences as you go through your placement as this can be very important when writing your personal statement and for medical interviews.