Berkshire training facility hopes to fix staff shortages

Students Adam Cozens and Rabia Chaudhry are training at the simulated hospital ward

A new training centre for NHS staff and students that simulates a hospital environment has opened.

The University of Reading has partnered with the Royal Berkshire Hospital to create the new clinical simulation training suite.

The facility is a recreation of a four-bed hospital ward, including specialist equipment, video link facilities and consultation spaces.

It was paid for by a £2.63m grant from the government's Office for Students.

University health director Prof Orla Kennedy said the suite would "help address the urgent need for additional medical and healthcare training spaces in Berkshire".

The facility is on the university's Whiteknights campus and also features anatomage tables, which offer 3D anatomy visualisation and virtual dissection tools.

Student Darsh Patel said the centre "allows us to have the closest feel to working on a hospital"

Student physician associate Adam Cozens said: "It emulates the ward quiet well so that when we swap between the university tuition and the hospital placement its not so much of a dramatic change.

"We are already familiar with what to expect and we can slot right into the workplace naturally."

Rabia Chaudhry, who is also studying at the university, said: "I feel like if I didn't have these facilities it can be a bit difficult to understand how to manoeuvre round that environment, but because we have this space we can understand what we are getting into before we get there."

Every day it will offer around 50 students or NHS staff space to learn safely in a simulated hospital setting

Prof Becky Green said: "We need ways of preparing students so that they are in a safe space so they are confident before they go out on placements."

Prof Kennedy added: "This specialist environment will help give our students an insight into what it's like to work in a real hospital ward, helping to better prepare them for their future career in the healthcare sector."

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