Cumbria ultrasound academy leaders aim to answer skills shortage

Following new NHS funding, University of Cumbria is planning an innovative way of training sonographers to ensure they are better prepared for clinical placement and to increase NHS capacity to train them.

The university has secured a grant of nearly £400k to establish a new ultrasound academy centred on the university and working in partnership with University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The grant will be used to create two dedicated training rooms located in both trusts that will house state-of-the-art ultrasound scanners. The university’s existing simulation lab will also be enhanced to offer students simulation experience.

Locating the training rooms at Ellesmere Port Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary ensures an even geographical spread of facilities to the north and south of the county. University and clinical staff will act as ‘travelling trainers’ and will support students in the clinical settings and the university lab.

Professional lead for medical sciences Charles Sloane said: “The rooms will not only act as an excellent training facility that will help to address chronic NHS workforce shortages in ultrasound, but will also be an excellent additional healthcare resource for local communities.”

By forming the ultrasound academy, the university and both NHS trusts aim to attract as many students as possible. It will, in the first instance, offer facilities to students who enrol on postgraduate ultrasound courses such as the MSc Direct Access Ultrasound.

Students will benefit from two bespoke placements at the Ellesmere Port Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary, working on patients in real clinical settings with qualified sonographers to refine skills learnt on university simulators.

The university lab will also offer specialist CPD courses such as musculoskeletal ultrasound for a range of professionals such as doctors and physiotherapists.

Lead picture: A radiography simulation lab is to be upgraded.

Published on page 6 of the April 2020 issue of RAD Magazine.