Moray College supports NHS response
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THE University of the Highlands and Islands has offered up skills, resources and buildings to support the NHS through the coronavirus pandemic.
As well as helping to produce visors using 3D printers at Moray College UHI, its student accommodation in Elgin is being offered for use by key workers. The university partnership has offered the use of vehicles, buildings, services and residences across many of its campuses.
Many UHI sites have donated gloves, hand sanitiser and aprons to healthcare providers, and chemicals from its School of Health, Social Care and Life Science have been gifted to the NHS to help with coronavirus testing.
Meanwhile, staff from the Highland Health Sciences Library, at the Centre for Health Science in Inverness, have been contributing to efforts to gather and present the latest coronavirus information to assist NHS Highland’s public health department to plan and deal with the pandemic.
The library has also been supporting pandemic work nationally and globally, including working with the World Health Organisation.
As well as offering vehicles, North Highland College UHI in Thurso has pledged drivers and logistics support for the NHS and government. Inverness College UHI is in discussions with Highland Council about opening up its Early Learning and Childcare Centre to provide childcare for essential workers.
It was announced this week that a UK Government testing facility will operate at Inverness College UHI. One of the car parks at Inverness Campus has been opened up to support the efforts to scale up testing for NHS and other key workers. The drive-through testing site will open on Sunday, April 26, operating on an appointment-only basis. It will be piloted for its first few days of operation.
In addition, more than 120 nursing and midwifery students have started their final placements early to help bolster the NHS workforce. They are being employed as healthcare workers by NHS Highland and NHS Western Isles to contribute to the COVID-19 response.
Professor Crichton Lang, UHI principal and vice-chancellor, said: "In addition to supporting our students and staff across the university partnership to continue their studies and day-to-day work, we are of course keen to do all that we can to help with the management of the wider impact of the current COVID-19 epidemic on people’s lives.
"I have huge appreciation for the efforts of all who are contributing, but especially to those students and staff who are engaging at the frontline of health and social care."
