Building work starting on West Norfolk nursing facility
Works due to start on the state-of-the-art facility in King's Lynn.
Work is due to start next week on a new nursing facility at the College of West Anglia's King's Lynn campus.
It's been made possible by a grant of ÂŁ597,000 from the Government's Town Deal Accelerated Funding.
The facility will consist of three rooms; a clinical room mirroring a real-life clinical environment with a new-scale hospital ward, a high-tech simulation suite equipped with simulation mannequins and a virtual augmented reality interface to provide clinical experience in a teaching environment and lastly, a skills room, focusing on clinical skills training such as cannulation.
David Pomfret, Principal/Chief Executive of the College of West Anglia, said: "The School of Nursing Studies creates a fantastic opportunity for West Norfolk.
"The Coronavirus has caused a massive global recession; however, health and social care is one of the very few sectors which is set to grow.
"The new facility and qualification will create local career and skills development opportunities.
"Nursing is an incredibly important and rewarding career.
"This project will mean that the very best of talent can stay local, improve the stability and quality of the QEH workforce and support the west Norfolk economy as well as the wellbeing of West Norfolk communities."
Dr April Brown, Chief Nurse at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn (QEH) said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with the College of West Anglia on this exciting development for West Norfolk.
"The development of a School of Nursing Studies is fantastic news for both our local community and QEH by opening career opportunities for those wishing to study nursing closer to home, in West Norfolk, and helping to provide stability for our future workforce needs."
Graham Perkins, Chair of the Town Deal Board, said: "The new School of Nursing Studies is an exciting project made possible through effective partnership of the CWA, QEH and Towns Funds.
"The project was prioritised in a bid for accelerated funding under the Towns Fund scheme in recognition of the strength of the local collaboration and the timely and fitting opportunity this project offers for supporting valuable skills development in King's Lynn."
The School of Nursing Studies is due to recruit its first 20 students directly from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital workforce onto the new Level 5 apprenticeship in January 2022.