Aston University has opened a new £1.5m healthcare teaching facility which includes two interconnecting five-bed wards and an interactive immersive room.
The official opening ceremony was carried out by Aston University’s new Chancellor Dr Jason Wouhra, in one of his first duties since his formal installation at Aston University’s first winter graduation ceremony on 20 January 2025.
The state-of-the-art facility has been funded by the Office for Students, and will be used by nursing, physician associate, pharmacy and medical students.
The wards are designed to be realistic and include real hospital furniture and hospital headwalls with simulated gases, patient call bell system and the ability to simulate powercuts. Each ward has a nursing station and storage for consumables. There are hoists for the students to practise moving patients, including one which is ceiling mounted and can be used with bariatric patients.
The suite is equipped with diverse manikins, include those which are very elderly, a teenage cancer patient and a young girl with Down’s Syndrome. In 2023, Aston University commissioned a realist