Consultant Neurosurgeon Mr Nick Carleton-Bland and this team at The Walton Centre are celebrating an Excellence in Education and Training Award at the NHS Parliamentary Awards this October.
The team’s Neuro VR simulator has played a key role in clinical placements over the last three years, with hundreds of Liverpool student doctors benefiting from its addition to their learning. The simulator is the UK’s only such piece of equipment and one of only 30 worldwide.
Nick says,
“I am really humbled to have been selected to be the first ever winner of the NHS Parliamentary Award for Excellence in education and training.
Many factors and many people helped and contributed to the work required to win this award include the great efforts from the Walton Charity and the kind support from the Jan Fairclough Ball.
The simulator in action
The Walton Centre is the only hospital in the UK to have the neuro VR simulator. It is currently the most advanced neurosurgery simulator available, and it has been used as part of surgical skills sessions with more than 300 student doctors from the University of Liverpool, as well as by regional neurosurgeons in training and in national post-graduate courses.
The high-fidelity simulator enables the student to interact with a realistic surgical situation – allowing them to appreciate the dexterity required to perform neurosurgery, which would be impossible to replicate in any other way.
The simulation also gives better understanding of what the students see when they come to observe operations.
The simulator is in a controlled environment where the students can make mistakes and ask all the questions they didn’t dare ask to a consultant neurosurgeon!
I really enjoy this session as it represents one of the best and most modern teaching methods and I believe it is one of the highest-yield teaching sessions I have delivered.
The students regularly give excellent feedback and clearly enjoy the session, which makes the session even more rewarding for me!”
Nick Carleton-Bland and fellow NHS Parliamentary Award winners
The Walton Centre is the only specialist hospital trust in the UK dedicated to providing comprehensive neurology, neurosurgery, spinal and pain management services. Students on Liverpool’s MBChB programme have the opportunity to experience the unique setting on clinical placement. To learn more about studying Medicine at Liverpool, see the MBChB course overview (link).
Congratulations to Nick and the team! Learn more about the NHS Parliamentary Awards (link).