Next generation of NHS recruits train in NHS Louisa Jordan
Over 150 HNC Healthcare Practice students from Glasgow Clyde College are learning key skills to prepare for frontline service in the NHS Louisa Jordan, Scotland’s temporary hospital built on site at the Scottish Events Campus (SEC).
The hands-on classes in an up to date hospital environment will help the young trainees gain vital clinical skills to prepare them for future roles as nurses or heath care support workers, as a result of a partnership organised by Glasgow Clyde College senior lecturer, Laura Kidger.
The hospital, built in less than three weeks to provide extra capacity for Covid-19 patients, is the ideal training environment with space to maintain physical distancing and equipped with modern clinical facilities.
Students from Glasgow Clyde College’s Anniesland and Cardonald Campuses will get the opportunity to practice skills such as taking patient temperatures, checking heart-rates and monitoring blood pressure and carrying out personal care in a safe and socially distanced manner.
They’ll also get practical experience of tending to wound dressings and moving patients safely with the college amending its curriculum to ensure a high standard of teaching could be maintained despite strict Covid-19 guidelines.
Laura Kidger said: “NHS Louisa Jordan is an incredible facility for our students to be able to get their first experience of a medical environment and due to the pressures of the pandemic this opportunity is essential for their development.
“At Glasgow Clyde College we have one of Scotland’s largest cohorts of nursing students on the HNC Healthcare Practice and the team at the hospital has been really accommodating to our requirements. The students will benefit immensely from the equipment they have access to and I’m proud to have it as part of our curriculum”.
“As with other courses in the college, a lot of the teaching had to move online this year but to train in such a modern learning facility only a few miles from each campus is enabling us to prepare the next generation of NHS recruits.”
Chief Executive of NHS Louisa Jordan, Jill Young, added: “As a national resource for the NHS in Scotland, we are proud to be playing our part in ensuring that the training and education which is so important to staff and students from across the country is being provided in a safe, effective and timely manner.
“As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, large numbers of key workers, medical and other healthcare students were left unable to undertake essential training or complete their qualifications. This would have had a significant impact on the ability of NHS Scotland to continue to provide the highest possible standard of care for patients and families as we continue to respond to the current situation.
“NHS Louisa Jordan is delighted to support Glasgow Clyde College and other learning institutions by providing a physically distant, safe venue to carry out key clinical skills and training.”
Built at the beginning of the outbreak at the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, NHS Louisa Jordan was established to help ensure NHS Scotland had extra capacity to treat patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since July, the temporary hospital has seen approximately 6,000 patients in a wide range of postponed non-COVID planned healthcare, in addition to over 1,000 NHS staff and students receiving clinical skills and training.
Picture shows L-R: Alleashia Smyth , Michelle O'Reilly and David Nkurunziza with Laura Kidger.