New £5.8m Centre for Health Innovation in Stafford opens up world of opportunity for students, business and industry
Staffordshire University has opened the doors of its new £5.8 million state-of-the-art Centre for Health Innovation.
Featuring the most advanced health simulation technology, the Centre offers a series of flexible and immersive simulation spaces designed to enhance clinical competency and the learning experience for students.
The new Centre has been part-funded by Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) via the Government’s Getting Building Fund. The LEP allocated £2.89m to this scheme to help bring forward the pioneering facility and generate further opportunity for learners and businesses in the area.
The facility was officially opened by Professor Mark Radford CBE, Chief Nurse for Health Education England and Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for England and honorary Doctor of Staffordshire University.
As well as being the study base for more than 2,000 student nurses, midwives and paramedics, the Centre also offers an exciting platform for new collaborations with local business and healthcare and technology industries.
Professor Martin Jones, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive at Staffordshire University said, “Completion of the Centre for Health Innovation is an important milestone in our ambition to become the UK’s best modern university.
“Our new sector-leading facilities in Stafford will help drive the digital health agenda and accelerate the transformation of the health workforce using immersive technology and advanced teaching. We’re also delighted that the Centre will play a key role in supporting start-ups and SMEs through the facilities, expertise and support we have to offer, driving new innovations and promoting new product development and research.”
Located at the University’s Stafford site, the Centre for Health Innovation is one of just five Centres of Excellence worldwide recognised by medical simulation training product provider CAE Healthcare.
Many new spaces within the Centre are equipped with cutting-edge audio-visual observation equipment, including discreet microphones and cameras to facilitate immersive and remote delivery. It also features a range of blank canvas rooms fitted with ceiling-mounted technology that allows spaces to be switched to different real-world settings from patients’ homes and hospital wards through to business environments such as factories and warehouses, and public spaces including airports and shopping mall
Mike Phillips, Interim Executive Dean in the School of Health, Science and Wellbeing, said, “This substantial investment in digitally-enabled applied learning and teaching at the Centre for Health Innovation takes simmersive education to the next level.
“This is flexible and versatile space and we are actively encouraging innovative businesses the opportunity to see what it could do for them. Our facilities could be of use to employers requiring a safe space to train staff to work in different environments or those in search of a venue for product testing or film sets.
“Users of the Centre for Health Innovation can also access the University’s internationally recognised research capabilities as well as a suite of CPD courses in areas such as life support and simulation.”
Alun Rogers, chair of Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire LEP, commented:
“Working in partnership is at the heart of the LEP’s mission, and so it is fantastic to see that the Centre for Health Innovation will not only act as an exemplary learning facility for those choosing to study healthcare disciplines, but also enable greater collaboration with businesses in the sector.”
Theo Clarke MP for Stafford said, “I was delighted to attend the opening of Staffordshire University’s new Centre for Health Innovation. I am pleased that over £2.8million in Government funding helped built this fantastic new facility in Stafford. I am thrilled that Stafford now has this state of the art centre providing healthcare training opportunities for people in Staffordshire and bringing higher skilled jobs to Stafford.”
The Centre for Health Innovation is the latest in a series of significant campus transformation investments made by Staffordshire University over the last 18-months. The University recently launched The Catalyst, a £40 million regional hub for digital skills and apprenticeships at its Stoke-on-Trent Campus and is set to open its £4.5m Woodlands Day Nursery and Forest School on the same site later this year.
Claire Frays
Communications Officer
t: 01782 295720
m: 07717 867396
e: claire.frays@staffs.ac.uk
Notes to editors.
Powered by the UK Government’s ‘Getting Building’ funding, Centre for Health Innovation is part of a £23.7 million Government investment made available to 11 ‘shovel ready’ projects across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. The Centre secured £2.89 million of backing from the ‘Getting Building Fund’ through Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Find out more about the Centre for Health Innovation at Staffordshire University: https://www.staffs.ac.uk/about/facilities/campus-transformations/centre-for-health-innovation
See the latest campus transformation projects at Staffordshire University at:
https://www.staffs.ac.uk/about/facilities/campus-transformations
ENDS
Getting Building Fund
On 4 August 2020, the government confirmed the list of over 300 successful projects which will receive a share of £900 million from the Getting Building Fund.
The full list of projects is available on GOV.UK.
The Getting Building Fund is investing in shovel-ready infrastructure projects to create jobs and support economic recovery across the country. Projects funded include:
• regeneration of town and city centres
• green infrastructure and clean energy
• transport and digital connectivity improvements
• unlocking of housing and business sites
• support for SMEs and learners
The successful projects (over 300) are expected to deliver up to 85,000 jobs, over 1,500,000 sqm of
commercial floor space, unlocking 45,000 homes, almost 1,000,000 sqm of public realm or green space improved or created, over 50,000 new learners assisted, and 65 million kgs of CO2 emissions saved.
All projects have been selected by Local Enterprise Partnerships and Mayoral Combined Authorities in each area and endorsed by the Housing Secretary.
Midlands Engine
Some Midlands Engine key facts:
• The Midlands Engine is home to over 10.3m people and has a £238bn economy, generating over 12% of the UK’s Gross Value Added.[1] The Midland Engine Partnership aims to close the productivity gap to match or exceed the national average by 2030.
• The Midlands is home to 835,000 businesses, and in 2019, the Midlands accounted for a 22% share of all of England’s goods exports.
