In this, Eastwood Park’s 50th year of delivering specialist engineering and estates and facilities management training, CEO, John Thatcher, is delighted to see apprentices returning for the centre’s hospital engineering summer school once again.
Now in its fifth year, this ‘unique programme’ has become an annual fixture on the Eastwood Park calendar, allowing apprentices to gain an insight into the range of disciplines that fall under the healthcare engineering and estates ‘umbrella’ in Eastwood Park’s simulated hospital environments. Creating this opportunity for development, and for training the next generation of engineers, is something that John Thatcher remains passionate about. He said: ‘How do apprentices and inexperienced engineers best gain the confidence and knowledge to work on critical systems within hospitals?’ Apart from their initial training, they need to learn alongside colleagues, and there has to be a hands-on, practical experience to fully understand and be able to replicate the skills they need to be able to repair, service, or set up equipment and plant within a hospital. This is precisely what the summer school offers.”
Looking ahead, Eastwood Park’s new training centre is set to be completed later next year, followed by an extensive fit-out. This new facility will offer simulated environments – all under one roof – in which NHS engineering trainees can learn about the very specific requirements of their jobs, including everything from hospital plant maintenance, to managing medical gases and medical equipment.
In the meantime, there have been several initiatives at Eastwood Park to enhance the ‘customer experience’ – a new games room, a new restaurant now offering table service, extended bar opening times, improved coffee facilities, and, soon to follow, a new gym.
Eastwood Park Training
Falfield,
Wotton-under-Edge
Gloucestershire
GL12 8DA
Tel: +44 (0)1454 262777
Email: training@eastwoodpark.co.uk
www.eastwoodparktraining.co.uk
