@MaddieElla, I'd definitely recommend a visit to Manchester. It's one school not much discussed but that scores high in student satisfaction.
They seem to welcome students from all walks of life. They offer 1/3rd of offers to pupils who haven't scored as high at the UKCAT, looking at their personal statement and experience. They also offer a higher percentage of places to graduates. There is therefore a great mix of students who are thrown together from the start through PBL. She says that havingto adapt to working with people with different level of maturity, different cultures and style of learning has been a real eye opener and very valuable.
She will be doing her third year in Preston in the hospital and is looking forward to it. As said, she's also been approached to put her candidature to do a PhD through the Uni in association with Cancer Research that will be well paid, which could open other doors too.
Definitely don't think your DD has less chance than anyone else to do well. My advice would be to give everything preparing for the UKCAT, it's all about practice practice practice practice, and so discipline at a time when they crave a break from it all. She can register and change the date until she feels ready, which is often not too soon but not too late either as anxiety can then take over.
DD gave up her 4th A level and EPQ to focus 100% on the 3 A levels whilst continuing with her work at a nursing home and volunteering at a hospice which she did every week all through her A levels.
She had to work very hard to get As/As* at her A levels and I worried that she'd struggle with the coursework at Manchester with everyone else very clever, but she hasn't at all and is scoring high in all her exams, so it really shows that GCSEs are not forcibly a good representation of what a student is capable at a higher level.