New £3m nursing department to open at Newman University

Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu will open the facility on Tuesday

A new £3m nursing and physiotherapy department is to be officially opened at a Birmingham university on Tuesday.

Birmingham-born professor Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu will open the new site at Newman University in Bartley Green.

From September, students will be able to use state-of-the art facilities to help them understand the realities of working in a hospital.

It will offer "much-needed training for specialist health workers".

Professor Jackie Dunne, vice chancellor, said offering studies in adult nursing, mental health nursing and physiotherapy as the focus of the new school "reflect most pressing local needs".

Asking Ms Anionwu to officially open the site was "the perfect choice" for the occasion given her "exceptional professional career in nursing and amazing personal story".

Ms Anionwu grew up in Wolverhampton before going into nursing and becoming a health visitor and tutor, the university said.

She became the UK's first sickle cell and thalassemia nurse specialist and her work revolutionised treatment of the disease.

She was honoured with the Order of Merit in 2022 and a damehood in 2017 for her services to nursing and the Mary Seacole Statue Appeal.

The new school has therapy teaching rooms, a clinical simulation suite and an immersive lab designed to recreate the experience of working in a busy healthcare environment