A number of Hartlepool leaders visited a new state-of-the-art healthcare unit and pledged to do all they can to create opportunities for people across the town.

Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash, Hartlepool Borough Council managing director Denise McGuckin and deputy lord lieutenant for Durham Peter Bowes took a tour of the health and social care academy at the University Hospital of Hartlepool recently.

The state-of-the-art unit, which opened in September last year, includes an at-home simulation suite, an immersive suite, a four-bed training bay, ICT suite, trainee common room and several flexible training and class rooms.

This is to help train existing health and social care workers and train, develop and inspire the next generation.

A number of Hartlepool leaders visited a new state-of-the-art healthcare unit recently and pledged to do all they can to create opportunities for people in Hartlepool. Pictured from the left are Jonathan Brash, MP for Hartlepool, Gary Wright, deputy director of education and learning at University Hospitals Tees, deputy lord lieutenant for Durham, Peter Bowes, and education lead, Teresa Pounder, beside one of the unit’s simulation manikins.

placeholder image — A number of Hartlepool leaders visited a new state-of-the-art healthcare unit recently and pledged to do all they can to create opportunities for people in Hartlepool. Pictured from the left are Jonathan Brash, MP for Hartlepool, Gary Wright, deputy director of education and learning at University Hospitals Tees, deputy lord lieutenant for Durham, Peter Bowes, and education lead, Teresa Pounder, beside one of the unit’s simulation manikins.

Teresa Pounder, education lead at the hospital, said: “People in this town want to learn and to grow – if you show that passion then they want to learn from you.

“You need to role model and to create that aspiration.

"I have a legacy and it’s important I give everything I can to develop the town’s young people – the same people who will one day be looking after me.”

Joel Pitchers, simulation technician for the hospital’s equipment, said: “This equipment is all about creating the most realistic conditions we can for those we are training – hopefully this facility can inspire people.”

Pictured from left are Hartlepool Borough Council managing director, Denise McGuckin, deputy lord lieutenant for Durham, Peter Bowes, Gary Wright, deputy director of education and learning at University Hospitals Tees, and Jonathan Brash, MP for Hartlepool, in one of the unit’s teaching rooms.

The academy is one of five of the council’s Town Deal transformation projects and secured £1.25m in funding back in 2022 to support its development.

Stacey Hunter, deputy director of education and learning, said: “We can offer high quality sustainable employment to people in Hartlepool.

“The training in this centre is at the heart of that but there is also a whole range of other things we can do, including going out into our community.

“We also know through the joint group between North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees Hospitals we will benefit from a broader footprint across Tees Valley and beyond.

“We are making sure that if someone from Hartlepool aspires for a career in healthcare they can do it.”

Jonathan Brash, MP for Hartlepool, said: “We need to market places like this to the Hartlepool people so that they train here, work here and stay here.

"Training our own people in the jobs of the future is so important.”