A major award from a leading UK charitable foundation will help ensure that the new medical education and clinical training centre being developed at Foresterhill in Aberdeen will give the North-east of Scotland the finest facility of its kind in the UK.
The Wolfson Foundation has informed project partners NHS Grampian and the University of Aberdeen that it will award up to £1.25 million towards the cost of the clinical skills training area in the new facility, which will provide state-of-the-art training facilities for doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and a range of clinical staff, learning and practising together as one team. The new development is currently known as the Matthew Hay Project - after the medical pioneer.
The Wolfson Foundation awards grants to support excellence in the fields of science and medicine, health, education, the arts and humanities. A previous grant from the Foundation of £750,000 helped create the University of Aberdeen's new Health Sciences Building, also at Foresterhill.
Dr Rona Patey, Consultant Anaesthetist and Director of the existing Clinical Skills Centre at Foresterhill, said: "This is tremendous news and really exciting not only for all of us on the project team but also for everyone who works in, and benefits from, health services in the North-east. I believe that the Matthew Hay Project is the most exciting development yet on the Foresterhill site. It will push the frontiers of innovation in training, and inspire the next and future generations of healthcare workers for north-east Scotland and beyond.
"The clinical skills floor in the new building will provide a safe environment for both undergraduate and postgraduate health professionals to learn and practise their skills, working together as multidisciplinary teams. This includes not only technical procedures such as resuscitation, taking blood or inserting catheters, but also vital skills such as communication and decision-making, all promoting patient care and safety. We will be able to make the very best use of advanced simulation training, and take advantage of further technological advances which enable new learning approaches and teaching methods."
The University and NHS Grampian are joint partners in the Matthew Hay Project which will see the £16.5 million purpose-built facility developed at Foresterhill. The new building, designed by Edinburgh-based architects Bennetts Associates, will teach anatomy and clinical skills to the next generation of doctors and will provide a superb training facility, equipped with the latest technology, for the continuing professional development of all healthcare workers. 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.
Progress towards construction is well on track. Planning permission was granted in September and work on the access roads will begin shortly. Construction will begin onsite in May this year, with the building scheduled for completion in late 2008.
A fundraising appeal was launched last year to contribute at least a further £4.5m to the total of £12m already pledged by the University and NHS Grampian. Aberdeen graduate Professor Sir Graeme Catto, President of the General Medical Council and Chairman of the Matthew Hay fundraising appeal, expressed his delight at news of the award, saying: "On behalf of the appeal committee I am absolutely delighted that the Wolfson Foundation has chosen to award us this level of support. This grant is a significant boost to our fundraising appeal total, bringing us up to £3.3m. This is an incredible sum to have raised over the past twelve months and it is all thanks to our many individual donors, organisations and companies.
"With the help of all our supporters we can ensure that the combination of first-class facilities and state-of-the-art technology – together with teaching of the highest quality, and the benefits of close proximity to clinical activity – will combine to make this development the finest medical education and clinical training centre in the UK. There are still many opportunities for individuals, organisations and companies to join us in giving this priceless gift to those who have made healthcare their career, and to present and future generations who will owe their lives to them."