Pictured above: Student using SimMan®

A University is opening its doors to healthcare professionals so they can take advantage of its cutting edge learning and teaching facilities.

Birmingham City University is establishing the Birmingham City University Skills and Simulation Centre as a service and facility that other organisations can take advantage off and hire. The Centre consists of cutting edge facilities such as lifelike manikins which are used in simulated patient care, along with a mock operating theatre, home environment room and a healthcare skills room.

Birmingham City Skills Centre is part of the University's Faculty of Health which uses the facilities to teach a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD (Continuous Professional Development) courses. The facilities on offer include manikins SimMan ®, SimBaby ™and Mega Code Kid which allow students to practice their newly taught skills prior to going on placement. Manufactured by Laerdal, the manikins are treated as real patients and have voice software, used to replicate real symptoms, and are enhanced by the manipulation of monitors for extra realism.

The manikins are used across mock hospital wards, the mock operating theatre, a birthing room fitted out as a real maternity ward, a plaster room, a skills room for practising taking blood pressure, giving injections and theatre skills such as intubation (inserting tubes into patients' throats) and scrubbing up.

Additional services offered by the centre includes Consultancy services by experts in the fields of manual handling, including the use of a unique rotation bed manufactured by Linet, one of the best known hospital bed manufacturers.

The decision to open the Centre officially was made following an increase in enquires about using the facilities. Organisations have already made use of the Faculty of Health's facilities to teach their volunteers CPR, and TV and filmmakers have used the facilities for TV and film shoots including BBC1's Survivors, day-time drama Doctors, Five's The Gadget Show and a forthcoming big budget Bollywood film. The official launch will take place on Tuesday 3 May 2011 when Birmingham's Lord Mayor will unveil a plaque to mark the occasion. The Birmingham City University Skills and Simulation Centre is based at the University's impressive £30million Seacole building at its City South campus in Edgbaston.

Gerri Nevin said: "We expect to get enquiries from healthcare organisations requesting a variety of services; from those that want to train their staff to use their own products in situ to buyers who would like to use equipment before committing to purchasing them to medical product reps who want to perfect their sales pitches.

"We have already been working with a number of organisations so now we decided to let more people know about the wonderful facilities we have to offer.

"It's easier to get in touch with us too - bookings can now be made now via our website http://www.bcu.ac.uk/health/business-and-innovation/facility-hire-and-booking."

The University's Faculty of Health is the largest provider of qualified health and social care staff to the NHS and has the UK's only contract to educate the Armed Forces' adult nurses and other health care practitioners. It has an international reputation for teaching quality with consistent 'excellent' ratings in assessments by the Quality Assurance Agency, Nursing and Midwifery Council, General Social Care Council and Health Professions Council. It has a worldwide reputation for pioneering and innovative approaches to teaching and learning incorporating cutting-edge, simulated learning environments.