OVIC supports NHS with training space for international nurses
A business centre in Southampton has been chosen by the NHS as an external venue to train international nurses.
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS), which has over 12,000 staff, has signed a licence agreement for workspace at Ocean Village Innovation Centre (OVIC).
Cohorts of nurses from overseas will be trained to refresh their clinical skills so they are prepared for registration n the UK and ready to take up nursing duties across UHS.
Servicing 1.9 million people in Southampton and south Hampshire, the organisation required additional external training space to enable on-site facilities to be used for other activities.
Specialist services are also provided to more than 3.7 million people in central southern England and the Channel Islands, such as neurosciences, cardiac services and children's intensive care.
Furthermore, the Trust is a major centre for teaching and research in association with the University of Southampton and partners, including the Medical Research Council and The Wellcome Trust.
Matthew Hine, the Trust’s Commercial Development Manager, said: “We required training-ready workspace, with OVIC fitting the bill perfectly and budget-aware. OVIC has been incredibly supportive and cohorts of overseas nurses will be trained here, with online and practice sessions, so they are ready to register in the UK.”
Pre-registered nurses from overseas must pass their nursing exams, called the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), before practising in the UK.
Stephen Deller, OVIC’s Centre Manager, said: “The Trust plays an extraordinary role in the lives of many of us in the region, and OVIC is incredibly proud to facilitate the training of nurses from all around the world. We have a global presence here at the centre, with various companies and organisations with international footprints.”
UHS’s licence agreement is for 1,200 sq ft on the fourth floor of 30,000 sq ft OVIC, which has 67 offices and a range of meeting rooms.
Run by Oxford Innovation, the UK’s leading operator of innovation centres, OVIC has just marked its 10th anniversary.
Other recent arrivals at the centre, close to Ocean Village Marina and National Oceanography Centre, include Krysteline Technologies, which specialises in material processing systems, primarily glass.
International contracts being rolled could see Krysteline increase staff numbers at OVIC to nearly 30.
In a separate development, OVIC occupier DFS Composites, a tooling and process engineering specialist in the global wind turbine industry, is looking to grow following a research and development grant from Innovate UK, Britain’s innovation agency.
Occupiers also benefit from complimentary business support through the in-house Innovation Director, Monika Dabrowska.
Monika helps entrepreneurs with one-to-one mentoring, workshops, seminars, programmes, funding and, with the universities of Southampton, Solent and Portsmouth, and Fareham College, knowledge transfers through internships.
Occupiers at OVIC, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary, also benefit from complimentary business support through in-house Innovation Director Monika Dabrowska.
Monika helps entrepreneurs with one-to-one mentoring, workshops, seminars, programmes, funding and, with the universities of Southampton, Solent and Portsmouth, and Fareham College, knowledge transfers through internships.
OVIC is operated by Oxford Innovation, which runs 26 innovation centres across the UK on behalf of building freeholders and property investors.
To find out how your company could benefit from OVIC’s ecosystem of entrepreneurs and serviced office support, please contact Stephen on 02380 381920 or email s.deller@oxin.co.uk Web: www.oxin.co.uk/ovic
