Published: Tuesday, 23rd November 2021
Published on behalf of the College of West Anglia:
Construction of the new modular building to house the School of Nursing Studies (SoNS) at the College of West Anglia’s King’s Lynn campus has been completed.
The £0.75m facility will see high quality training facilities developed at the site, thanks to a successful bid supported by the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk and Town Deal Board. The Accelerated Towns Deal Funding for the SoNS is in addition to the £25 million Government funding allocation for the King’s Lynn Town Deal Board.
The build of the new training facility was undertaken by The McAvoy Group over two days. McAvoy Group’s Modular Hire and Sales Director, Glen Busby said modular was a perfect choice for the new training facility.
“Modular construction brings many benefits including enhanced sustainability, speed of delivery and flexibility when compared with traditional builds. With the modules being manufactured in a controlled factory environment and then assembled on site, there is a significant reduction in the level of site disruption, vehicle movements and CO₂ emissions.”
David Pomfret, Principal of the College of West Anglia, said:
“We are excited to see the School of Nursing Studies really come to life with the modular construction of the building, bringing the provision of quality nursing training in state-of-the-art facilities ever closer for the local community.”
Graham Purkins, Chairman of the Town Deal Board, said:
"We’re pleased to see the next stage in this development progress for the new training facility at the College of West Anglia’s King’s Lynn campus. This exciting project, being delivered with financial support from the Towns Fund, will provide opportunities for local people to access nursing training and employment in King's Lynn instead of them having to travel to Norwich or Cambridge.”
Lorraine Gore, Chief Executive of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, said:
“It is exciting to see the benefits of modular construction realised in the delivery of the new School of Nursing Studies building. Seeing the building assembled means that we’re a step closer to creating opportunities for local people to train and develop skills for a career in nursing.”
Alice Webster, Chief Nurse at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“I’m pleased to see the exciting work progressing to bring a new School of Nursing to West Norfolk. This important facility will support our future workforce needs and provide career opportunities for those in our local community wishing to study nursing closer to home.”
For the next phase of the build, The McAvoy group will complete further external groundworks and internal fittings are due to begin.
The facility will consist of three rooms; a clinical room mirroring a real-life clinical environment with a new-scale hospital ward, a high-tech simulation suite equipped with simulation mannequins and a virtual augmented reality interface to provide clinical experience in a teaching environment and lastly, a skills room, focusing on clinical skills training such as cannulation.
The first cohort of Level 5 Nursing Associate apprentices will commence in January 2022, working with Anglia Ruskin University to train students from the QEH workforce, both online and at their Peterborough School. The SoNS is also working with ARU to strengthen its development and support its registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, prior to commencing local delivery.
Dr Louise Jenkins, Head of School, Nursing and Midwifery (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough) at ARU, said:
"We are looking forward to welcoming QEH students onto the Nursing Associate apprenticeship at our Peterborough campus in January, and continuing to work with CWA to prepare for NMC approval to deliver the course there."