Bolton College will be installing new state-of-the-art dissection tables as part of a £1.5million investment in health skills across the region.

The fund was granted by the government to help the Deane Road-based college lead the Local Skills Improvement Fund for eight other colleges around Greater Manchester.

This is part of a wider £8.5million investment that will help fund new anatomage tables across the nine Greater Manchester colleges, led by Bolton.

The virtual dissection tables will be used to help students see how 3D anatomy looks for themselves and will give them a more in-depth learning experience.

Bolton College assistant principal Catherine Langstreth said: “We’re proud to be leading the LSIF health initiative for Greater Manchester, to more closely align the needs of employers with the skillsets of our students. 

The Bolton News: Bolton College assistant principal Catherine Langstreth Bolton College assistant principal Catherine Langstreth (Image: Galibier)

“As education providers, it’s our duty to ensure local communities are jointly benefitting from our work and these grants will allow colleges, students and employers nationally to realise their collaborative potential, and I’m personally very excited to see where this might lead.”

The Bolton News: Deane Road based Bolton CollegeDeane Road based Bolton College (Image: Bolton College)

This comes as part of the Local Skills Improvement Fund’s wider aim to help give students the skills they need to forge careers in the NHS.

The wider fund will be used for a range of projects all aimed at helping to bridge the skills gap in health across Greater Manchester.

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Another aspect of this has been Bolton College’s work with Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and The Christie Hospital to assess the digital skills of nurses and midwives.

The information they gather will be used to create personalised training programmes for members of staff at the two hospitals.

Officials at Bolton College say that they hope their work will dovetail with other recent projects across the town, which they hope will become a nationally recognised centre for health.

These include the long-awaited University of Bolton’s Institute of Medical Sciences, which the college has been a partner in and which is set to support 3,000 leaners every year once opened.