North-east patients are set to benefit after a transport firm pledged thousands of pounds towards improving state-of-the-art simulator training for emergency procedures.
FirstGroup plc, the UK's lagest transport provider, has given £38,000 towards the new medical education and clinical training centre being developed at Foresterhill by the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian.
The firm's donation to the £16.5M Matthew Hay project will help fund a new clinical skills simulation room. As one of the first areas in Scotland to develop a centre for teaching clinical skills, doctors and other frontline clinical staff at Foresterhill already benefit from being able to use the latest state-of-the-art simulation technology such as SimMan, but to date this has been in far from ideal accommodation.
The new simulation room will provide not only a realistic clinical setting, but also high quality digital recording of simulations which can be used for debriefing and learning. It will also house Aberdeen's SimBaby, an advanced simulator which uses an interactive, technologically advanced baby manikin to help students and staff working in paediatrics to practise the emergency treatment of infants and young children. Using technology only available since 2005, the Aberdeen SimBaby was the first in the UK.
The simulation room will be located on the clinical skills training floor of the new £16.5m building which will provide state-of-the-art education and training for medical students, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and a range of clinical staff, learning and practising together as one team. The quality of the facility and its technology and teaching - plus the close proximity to real clinical areas - is expected to make this development the finest of its kind in the UK.
George Mair, managing director of First Aberdeen said: "As the UK's largest bus and train provider and with ever expanding operations in the United States, FirstGroup may be global in scale, however, we are most certainly local in our approach. We have a long and tremendous relationship with both Aberdeen University and NHS Grampian and are delighted to be in a position to contribute funding to the clinical skills simulation room. I think everyone in the city should take pride in the fact that when complete the development will set a benchmark for similar facilities in the UK."
Dr Rona Patey, director of the Clinical Skills Centre at Foresterhill and consultant anaesthetist with NHS Grampian, said: "This gift from FirstGroup is wonderful news for everyone who works in healthcare in the North-east, and to all in our communities who may need this one day. This dedicated area will not only help us make the very best use of the advanced technology we have, but also enable us to take advantage of new approaches and teaching methods which keep pace with the rapid advances in medical and clinical care in the 21st century."
The fundraising appeal was launched last year to contribute at least a further £4.5m to the total of £12m already committed by the University and NHS Grampian.
Professor Sir Graeme Catto, said: "On behalf of the appeal committee I want to thank FirstGroup for their generous support which has helped our fundraising appeal to top £3.5m. The help of all our supporters means that we are well on track to ensuring that staff and patients in the North-east benefit from a facility which will not be bettered anywhere in the UK. "
Planning permission for the £16.5 million new build was granted last September and work on the access roads has already begun. Construction will begin onsite next month, with the building scheduled for completion in late 2008. The design by Edinburgh-based architects Bennetts Associates will provide the ideal modern environment to teach anatomy and clinical skills to the next generation of doctors and be a superb training facility for the continuing professional development of all healthcare workers at all stages of their careers. The five-storey building will also provide first-class conference and lecture facilities, a simulated ward area for the training of students and staff, an IT training suite and a café and social areas designed to encourage informal mixing of different professionals and specialisms, adding further value to shared training.