University of Hull's Allam Medical Building to light up blue to celebrate 70th birthday for NHS

The University of Hull’s award-winning Allam Medical Building, which was opened by Her Majesty The Queen last year, is one of the landmark buildings across the UK that is helping the NHS celebrate as it turns 70 on Thursday 5 July.

As the centrepiece of the University’s £28-million health campus, staff, students and graduates will gather at 10pm to watch the building light up blue as a tribute to the NHS, an organisation that  holds a special place in the hearts of many people in our region and beyond.

Hull’s All For One choir will be in attendance to sing their version of Coldplay’s inspirational hit Fix You.

Professor Julie Jomeen, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Hull, said: 

“It is both an honour and a joy to light up the Allam Medical Building, the flagship of our health campus at the University of Hull. In recognition of the heritage and future promise of the NHS – as we move closer to building the cohesive workforce required by the NHS to deliver the highest standard of healthcare in the 21^st century – we are delighted to join the nation in celebrating this remarkable organisation.

“To shine a light on this special day on the Allam Medical Building is a fitting way to pay tribute to all our outstanding graduates – midwives, nurses, operating department practitioners, clinical psychologists, social workers and doctors – who are already working for the NHS; to the future generations including paramedics who will study in this building; and to the birth of one of the world’s most incredible organisations: the NHS – celebrating 70 years of providing healthcare for all.”

The University of Hull and Hull York Medical School have forged strong links with NHS trusts and partner organisations, delivering life-changing research, helping to shape guidelines to provide the highest level of healthcare for patients, and bringing improvements to the health of our region and beyond. The University and medical school have helped to address skills shortages in the NHS by:

• Training 1312 nurses* who are caring for patients in hospitals, GP practices ,clinics, schools and community health centres
• Training 1416  doctors to respond to challenges within healthcare and help transform patient care
• Training 178 midwives* to support women through pregnancy, labour and provide postnatal care
• Training 93 operating department practitioners* who care for people before, during and after surgery
• Training 720 social workers* to protect the vulnerable and help people live independently.

Our graduates make an outstanding contribution to improving the health of the people in our region and beyond, evidenced by the fact that for three consecutive years 100% of operating department practitioners, nursing, midwifery and medical graduates have been in employment or further education within 6 months.**

This year the University’s largest ever cohort of nursing graduates are providing a boost to the NHS – the majority working for local health services and hospitals.

Many of our nurses are taken on by the local health services, making a real difference to their communities while our graduate doctors from Hull York Medical School are helping to address the shortages of GPs and psychiatrists in our region.

Professor Jomeen said: “We are extremely pleased that we can help to support our local hospitals in providing the highest standards of healthcare to our region.

“By training skilled nurses, doctors, midwives, operating department practitioners and other allied health professionals who will be able to improve outcomes for their patients on a daily basis, we are addressing the region’s shortfall of staff, helping the NHS to develop the cohesive workforce it requires to deliver the healthcare of the future.” 

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has offered jobs to 144 student nurses from the Class of 2018, covering all specialities of adult medicine including oncology, theatres, stroke care, intensive care, surgery, medicine and cardiology.

Simon Nearney, the trust’s Director of Workforce, said the trust, University and medical school shared identical goals in training, developing and recruiting the best healthcare staff. 

“The excellent working relationship we have enables us to achieve our mutual ambition.

“This partnership benefits everyone – the University, the trust, the students and, perhaps most importantly our patients because we are securing the best talent to care for them now and for many years to come.”

The University and Hull York Medical School will be highlighting ways to access healthcare careers when they join NHS organisations across Hull and the East Riding at the 2018 Health Expo, on Thursday 5 July, at the Hilton DoubleTree, Ferensway, Hull.

Visitors will be able to meet staff and students to discuss career options and courses in healthcare and medicine. Information will be available on the University Certificate in Health and Social Care Practice – which provides an alternative route into healthcare for those without traditional qualifications like A Levels – as well as the medical school’s widening participation programme, Pathways to Medicine, which it runs in conjunction with the Sutton Trust to support year 12 pupils from across the region who wish to pursue a career in medicine.

Since it was established in 2003 the medical school has worked in close partnership with local NHS trusts and community healthcare providers to ensure it has remained abreast of local and national workforce needs – training doctors in hospitals, primary care and community settings across North Yorkshire, the Humber and North Lincolnshire and Goole.

The school was recently awarded an additional 90 places as part of the Government’s expansion of undergraduate medical education.

Professor Una Macleod, Dean of Hull York Medical School, said:

“I studied medicine in the 1980s and my career has taken me from hospital medicine into clinical and academic practice.

“I understand the enormous privilege of being a doctor and how, as healthcare professionals, we can make a difference to the health of patients regardless of their circumstances. Indeed ensuring all people have access to the very best healthcare is the very foundation on which the NHS was built.

“This special occasion is about celebrating the achievements of our graduates and recognising the impact that they, together with their fellow healthcare professionals, have on the lives of patients in our region and beyond. We are proud to be part of the celebrations.” 

As the NHS celebrates its 70th birthday, the University of Hull celebrates a partnership that goes back more than 40 years: The University’s Institute of Nursing Studies started offering a BSc (Hons) in Nursing in the 1970s – and was one of the first UK universities to teach the degree programme. Nursing numbers increased significantly when, as part of a national trend, the local NHS-based School of Nursing was incorporated into the University. Since that time the University has continued to respond to the call for health professionals in the region, increasing its nursing and allied healthcare degrees, including paramedic science.

*in the past six years

**(Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education for the academic year 2015/16, published by HESA June 2017).