PRESS RELEASE 14th November 2018
The Friends of Harefield Hospital charity have purchased a new state-of-the-art mannequin, designed to train staff in life-saving techniques, after raising more than £35,000 for the high-tech equipment.
With highly realistic anatomy and skin texture, articulated limbs and joints, the mannequin makes sounds, blink, breathe, and cough. It can even cry tears and ‘bleed’.
The training aid is a far cry from the origins of medical simulation training, which began with simple training tools, such as a model arm to practise administering injections and medication.
The addition of the mannequin at the dedicated Simulation Training and Resource (STaR) Centre at Harefield Hospital will boost simulation training for staff.
Phil Evans, chairman of Friends of Harefield Hospital, said: “I and my fellow charity trustees were extremely impressed when we saw the mannequin demonstrated. It has given us a real boost to think that our fundraising efforts can have such results. We are particularly proud because it is the first ‘big-ticket’ item the charity has bought the hospital.”
Phil Evans, chairman of Friends of Harefield Hospital, said: “I and my fellow charity trustees were extremely impressed when we saw the mannequin demonstrated. It has given us a real boost to think that our fundraising efforts can have such results. We are particularly proud because it is the first ‘big-ticket’ item the charity has bought the hospital.”
It will be used to prepare clinical staff for a range of different scenarios – including emergencies, such as a patient being flown to the hospital’s heart attack centre.
Andrew Sykes, clinical skills and simulation centre manager at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Modern simulation enables us to practise for clinical events and serious incidents that most staff may not see regularly.
“The mannequin can even be programmed to ‘re-run’ a serious incident to enable teams to learn and improve procedures for the future incidents. It will be invaluable to our staff, and we’re incredibly grateful to the Friends for their extremely generous donation.”
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For further information, please contact:
Lucy Hunter
Communications officer
Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust
Tel: 020 7352 8121 (ext.2237) Mobile : 07891 310 924
Email: l.hunter@rbht.nhs.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @RBandH
Notes to editors
Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust is the UK’s largest specialist centre for the treatment of heart and lung disease. Working from two sites, Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea, West London, and Harefield Hospital, near Uxbridge, the Trust has an international reputation for the expertise of its staff, high standard of care and research success. Experts at the Trust help patients from all age groups who have heart and lung problems and provide some of the most complex surgery and sophisticated treatments available anywhere in the world.
The Trust is the UK’s largest centre for the treatment of adult congenital heart disease and is the country’s leading provider of specialist respiratory care. Over the years the Trust has been responsible for major medical breakthroughs, such as the UK’s first combined heart and lung transplant. It established the UK’s first adult service for cystic fibrosis, which is now one of Europe’s biggest treatment centres for the condition, and has pioneered the use of primary angioplasty for the treatment of heart attacks. Today the Heart Attack Centre at Harefield has one of the fastest arrival-to-treatment times in the UK, a crucial factor in patients’ survival.
As a member of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), in collaboration with Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare Trust and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the Trust helps to drive innovation and improved care for over 1.1 million patients each year in North West London, by aligning the research, education and clinical services of the partner organisations. Visit Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust website for more information.