A Welsh company has launched a new education and training platform for surgeons (BusinessNewsWales, 2017).

Talbot Green-based Hospital Innovations, the UK’s leading supplier of specialist products for use in orthopaedic, surgical and corrective procedures, has created the “Skills Academy” to provide surgeons with five training and educational initiatives.

The aim of the Skills Academy is to enhance and share best practice within the medical community. Hospital Innovations promotes responsible use of its key products whilst educating and engaging key influencers in the field of medicine. The continuous innovation and development of technologies in line with market trends is of great importance.

The five platforms are:

• Centre of Excellence which enables surgeons to visit Hospital Innovations’ training centres to view live surgery and discuss best practice with surgeon experts
• eInteractions which offers focused webinar sessions accommodating remote and flexible training opportunities to fit in with busy schedules
• SkillsLab and SkillsLab MINI which are interactive, hands-on workshops providing detailed guidance on the business’ focus products
• ExpertShare offers Masterclass sessions for more experienced customers
• HI Experience is a personalised programme involving a visit to head office for presentations, workshops and demonstrations.

Hospital Innovations’ Managing Director, Phil Davies, said “As we progress into our new growth phase; and in line with our innovations strategy, we are proud to introduce the Skills Academy, our umbrella platform for all training and educational initiatives. We believe that sharing best practice in our fields of expertise will drive our future, ensuring responsible use of our innovative technologies and enabling our customers to enhance and develop their skills base.

“We have acknowledged the need for a variety of educational programmes in order to be able to deliver and meet the expectations and clinical needs of our customers, whilst also having the ability to adapt and tailor each training programme to individual customers. All of our training courses and material have been designed with patient benefit in mind at all times.”

Central to Hospital Innovations’ strategy is to engage with key opinion leaders and offer their expertise to other surgeons with the opportunity for one to one visits to one of the company’s Centres of Excellence.

Among the first to sign up to the Centre of Excellence programme is Ian McDermott, one of the UK’s leading experts in meniscal transplantation. He is co-founder and managing partner of London Sports Orthopaedics, and operates out of London Bridge Hospital. He said “Orthopaedics is a constantly evolving field and surgeons that are not up-to-date on technological innovations and surgical advancements are doing their patients a disservice.

“However, people are rightly sceptical of new procedures that aren’t necessarily tried and tested in the UK which is why it is such a good idea for them to see new products in action before they commit to them.

“By sharing best practice surgeons are able to take full advantage of medical developments, helping patients and keeping orthopaedics in Britain at the top of its game.”