The clinical skills laboratory is a multidisciplinary educational facility that provides clinical skills training to all health care professionals from both Wirral Hospital NHS Trust and Wirral's primary care community trusts.

The combined staffing figures for the above trust's is around 5,000 people, of which all clinical areas have access to the clinical skills laboratory.

Prior to the advent of the modern clinical skills laboratory, all clinical teaching had to be carried out in an actual clinical environment in which patients were used as teaching aids.

This proved an inadequate training facility as it placed both the student and the patient in a threatening environment and indirectly affected the quality of patient care.

The clinical skills laboratory provides all staff with the opportunity to practice clinical techniques on simulators, thus providing a non-threatening environment that allows practical skills to be perfected, prior to attempting the chosen skill on a patient.

The clinical skills laboratory is committed to providing a safe non-threatening environment to facilitate both the teaching and learning of clinical skills.

It is our aim to provide an educational centre that will give all health care professionals the opportunity to develop and maintain competence within the clinical skills area.

By meeting individual needs we hope to facilitate standard setting, and thus encompass the clinical governance framework.

Using research based practice we will endeavour to maintain and improve upon current clinical skills and to promote the necessity for life long learning to ensure fitness to practice.

The clinical skills laboratory values the time of its students and will ensure that all sessions are based upon evidence based best practice.

The skills lab believes in individual assessment and will endeavour to provide experiential learning objectives that encompass a problem based learning approach.

1. Venapuncture
2. Peripheral Cannulation
3. Urinary Catheterisation
4. Tissue Viability (wound assessment)
5. I. V Additives
6. 12 Lead ECG
7. ECG Interpretation
8. Chest Auscultation
9. Gastrostomy tube replacement

1. Arterial Blood sampling
2. Incubation and Airway management
3. Central Venous Catheter insertion
4. Suturing / Wound closure
5. Spinal Injections / Epidurals
6. Eye Retinopathy trainer
7. Ear Diagnostic trainer
8. Gastroscopy
9. Colonoscopy
10. Breast examination
11. Testicular examination
12. Chest Auscultation
13. Care of Colostomy and ileostomy
14. Aseptic technique/ Wound care
15. Age simulation
16. Bronchoscopy
17. Performing Manual and Electronic Vital Signs
18. Patient care scenarios e.g. Bed bathing, Elimination etc.
19. I.M Injections
20. Episiotomy trainer
21. Patient suction techniques
22. X-ray interpretation
23. Mechanical Suction techniques
24. Ear Syringing
25. Advanced Incubation