UHSM Academy launched
“The UHSM Academy is a unique venture which unites all NHS health educational activity under one umbrella to foster the delivery of the highest-possible standards of multi-professional care to patients.
The Academy will speed up the process of bringing innovative treatments and devices into practice.
I fully support the educational cornerstones on which it is being launched.“
Lord Ara Darzi
Former health tsar
“UHSM has long been at the forefront of medical education, but the Academy is pioneering a vision of education in health care which breaks down divisions between professions by training them in multi-disciplinary groups.
We want to break down barriers by creating a new educational model.”
Ged Byrne
Academy director
The UHSM Academy - the UK’s first organisation to unite every aspect of health care education under one umbrella -was launched in South Manchester on Tuesday 12 January, backed in an address by former health Tsar Lord Ara Darzi. The ground-breaking methods of the UHSM Academy were also endorsed through a video from United Nations Special Representative Dr David Nabarro at the launch at the Concorde Conference Centre. You can see both videos on the right.
There were a series of presentations, and an opportunity to see how ‘iStan’ – the high-tech electronic patient simulator – is being used to train the health care workers for the 21st century.
The UHSM Academy has been established to provide the whole spectrum of the medical education and training needed in a hospital, from specialised consultant training to basic fire safety courses, in one organisation.
The Academy has created a model tapping into the nationally-recognised, work-based training courses trialled in Manchester. These will see a range of different staff – such as nurses, doctors, paramedics and physiotherapists – learning a task such as resuscitating a patient together rather than separately. This model also represents good value for money.
New high-tech ways of delivering education, including electronic simulation, take education directly into the local community. As more patient care is given outside hospitals, The Academy is leading the UK in devising models of training staff in non-hospital settings.
The Academy’s vision does not stop in Manchester but extends across the world. In line with the UK’s commitment to global health, The Academy has set up links to Gulu University School of Medicine in Uganda and to its referral hospital, providing training opportunities and exchanges for staff at all levels from both countries. With Manchester University it will also host the new Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute.