Marjon opens new £5.8m Health & Wellbeing Hub to train future health care workers in Plymouth

A new £5.8 million health and wellbeing centre has officially opened at Plymouth Marjon University today (Friday 14 November).

The Marjon Health & Wellbeing Hub was funded by an Office for Students capital grant in 2022.

The refurbished building now includes a simulation hospital ward, a community care suite, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality training rooms, IT labs, a specialist Speech and Language Therapy dysphasia kitchen, and teaching spaces.

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The Hub sits next to University Hospitals Plymouth at Derriford, supporting close links with NHS partners.

ABOVE: The external view of the new Health and Wellbeing Hub (Image: Jamie T)

The new centre will train more than 600 students and apprentices each year across programmes including Nursing, Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Public Health, Psychotherapy and Counselling, Osteopathic Medicine, Assistant Practitioner roles and Nursing Associate training, with more than 70 staff working in the Hub.

The facility will also run health and wellbeing clinics for local residents. 

Students will learn in real clinical settings while providing services such as Physiotherapy, Osteopathic Medicine, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Speech and Language Therapy.

Vice-Chancellor Claire Taylor spoke to The Moorlander about how the new Health and Wellbeing Hub could help contribute to members of the Dartmoor public or prospective students from local towns such as Tavistock and Okehampton.

“For members of the (Dartmoor) public, the hub provides another place to come if you are seeking any sort of clinical input.

“Recently we have been running pay-what-you-can counselling clinics which have proved very popular, physio and osteo, speech and language therapy as well so this is another facility for the community to access be that through GP referral or self-referral.

“For students who are thinking about coming to Marjon this is where they will be able to experience real state-of-the-art facilities in terms of simulation space, wards, Augmented and Virtual Reality suites so students coming here will get a top-notch learning experience that is rooted in the real world.”

The Hub brings together simulation wards and specialist clinical rooms, giving students hands-on experience and expanding vital services for the local community.

All clinics are led by qualified practitioners, with students supervised throughout. 

ABOVE: A physiotherapy room on the ground floor (Image: Jamie T)

The University says this will ease pressure on local NHS services and widen access to support in the community.

Dr Saul Bloxham, Dean of Health, echoed the Vice-Chancellor’s words and explained how the ground floor of the building is purpose-built for students and people of the local community to work together.

“We can't do this without the local people. The people that come through, often from local communities, go back out and stay in their local area to boost the health service and various areas in which we need to address health inequality. It is a wonderful partnership between the community and the University.”

Katie Pay, a Dartmoor local and second year student nurse at Plymouth Marjon University, explained how useful it is to have such a facility on her doorstep.

“It’s amazing to be honest. I never thought that something like this would be possible down in the South West, especially growing up in Ivybridge, you don't have a lot of opportunities available to you and I never realised before doing more research that this place was here.”

ABOVE: Student nurse Katie Pay (right) is a Dartmoor local taking full advantage of the facilities on offer (Image: Jamie T)

The Hub forms part of the University’s 2030 Strategy, which focuses on healthcare expansion and meeting regional workforce needs.

Design and construction were delivered with Expedite Design Services and Obedair.