State-of-the-art medical training facility opens at St George’s

State-of-the-art medical training facility opens at St George’s

20 December 2011

A new £350,000 state-of-the-art training facility was officially opened at the St George’s campus on 15 December by Niall Dickson, chief executive and registrar of the General Medical Council.

The Advanced Patient Simulator Centre, a joint project between St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust and St George’s, University of London, provides specialist training for healthcare professionals and students. It allows them to test their skills in practical scenarios based on real-life situations including surgical and medical emergencies. They work with computer-controlled patient manikins that realistically mimic a wide range of health problems. Trainers can remotely control the manikins, which include both adult and child models, to instantly change the scenarios and introduce new problems for the trainees to tackle.

Opening the centre, Niall Dickson said: "This is a glimpse of the future for medical education, and the fact that the unit attracts doctors from across Europe shows that it is at the cutting edge. We need facilities that enable medical students, doctors and other health professionals to learn clinical skills, to work in teams and to develop their techniques in a safe environment, and that is what the team at St George's is delivering.

“The ability to simulate accurately what really happens in the clinical situation has progressed by leaps and bounds and we need to embrace that technology across the NHS. St George's is leading the way."

The new centre will train around 2,500 people each year, including doctors, nurses, other healthcare workers and students, from St George’s as well as other London hospitals and universities. The project was funded by St George’s Hospital Charity, which also donated £150,000 for a new patient simulation manikin, one of the most advanced types available.