ive been out of education (ill) for a while and really keen on returning to study medicine. i have 2 questions:

1. I have the following GCSEs

science double award (seperate biology, chemistry and physics) A*A*
maths B
english (seperate lit and lang) A*A*
history A*
religious studies A*

Do the science and english GCSEs count as 2 seperate grades each? teachers said they did at the time, but im confused?
even then, it makes a total of just 7 GCSEs. Is that enough? I read on the Cardiff application policy they require 9. would i be advised to take another GCSE along with ALEVELS at college?