‘Healthcare Heroes’ promotes BU’s impact in the healthcare industries

Bournemouth University has long had an active role in the healthcare industries providing training, graduates, research and expertise in professions as far ranging as nursing, midwifery, social care and orthopaedics.

BU’s ongoing impact in the healthcare industries is being celebrated through a new campaign, Healthcare heroes, which highlights some of the ongoing work happening at BU.

The campaign, ‘Healthcare heroes’, celebrates the work of BU academics in health and social science professions, as well as the achievements of students and alumni now working in the field, such as placement student, Mica Lee, currently in the cardiology unit at Royal Bournemouth Hospital, and the work of our student midwives in Portsmouth.

One such Portsmouth-based midwifery student is Becky Weston, who has been impressed with the hands on experience she is receiving as a part of her degree, as well as the excellent support of experienced healthcare professionals around her.  She said, “BU worked really well for me because we are all very close, like a family, at BU's Portsmouth Campus. It’s easy to speak to the year above you about what’s coming up, we all support each other and we’re able to be fully immersed in midwifery.

“All of the lecturers at Portsmouth Campus are academics who have been midwives in the past or are still practicing midwifery, so we get a really good level of understanding from those that have done the job and have the experience under their belt.”

The work of academics such as BU’s Dr Osman Ahmed and Professor Keith Brown will also feature in the campaign. Additionally, BU will seek to highlight the impact the university has had, and is continuing to have, on the NHS and healthcare professions, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the NHS.

Another academic involved in the campaign is Tom Wainwright, Associate Professor of Orthopaedics and Deputy Head of the Orthopaedic Research Institute (ORI) at Bournemouth University.

ORI’s work includes researching the use of robotics in hip surgeries, and their new CHAiN project, which uses cycling techniques to aid hip movement and prevent hip problems such as arthritis.

Tom said, “ORI is pretty unique in that we have really close links with local hospitals but also an international profile for our work in orthopaedics. In terms of research impact, we are putting this into practice locally but we’ve also got people nationally and internationally wanting to replicate this and use our system.

“There’s a real breadth to our work, with the aim of bringing expertise to solve real-world clinical problems.”

From Monday 21 May 2018, advertising for the campaign will feature prominently in several popular shopping locations across the south, including Gunwharf Quay in Porstmouth, West Quay Shopping Centre in Southampton and Castlepoint Bournemouth.  There will also be a prominent advert in The Guardian on Wednesday 23 May. The campaign will also feature on the radio, with Wave 105 carrying interviews with BU academics and students talking about their impact in healthcare, and what makes them a Healthcare Hero.

For more information about the campaign, and to read about BU’s impact in the healthcare industries, visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/healthcare-heroes.