Oxford Medical Simulation has secured £2.1m in funding for its virtual reality (VR) training platform for healthcare professionals.
Its training software can provide “hundreds” of different medical scenarios to give medical staff practice without real patients. A traditional training facility, where scenarios are acted out with real people, can give approximately 200 simulations a month.
Michael Wallace, CEO and co-founder of Oxford Medical Simulation, said: “We see this funding as an opportunity to supercharge our growth and rapidly increase the number of healthcare professionals around the world who have access to our training.”
Oxford Medical Simulation says VR is a more scalable approach than traditional medical training methods, claiming the company has provided 6,000 sessions per month.
The software is already being used at various NHS trusts and US universities.
Quicker training of staff through solutions such as VR could provide much-need support to the NHS, which has been long-suffering from a staffing crisis. In June 2022 there were more than 130,000 vacant posts within secondary care roles, according to BMA.
Oxford Medical Simulation’s funding came from ACF Investors and Dr Nicolaus Henke, ex-head of McKinsey’s global healthcare practice.
Dr Nicolaus Henke, investor in Oxford Medical Simulation, said: “Virtual simulation creates a better and more immersive training experience for learners, while at the same time freeing up very experienced senior nurses and doctors for important clinical and education leadership tasks.”
VR training within the NHS is slowly increasing. For example in June, King’s College Hospital began trialling the tech for diversity training.
Along with VR, the NHS has also trialled the use of drone delivery for chemotherapy drugs in the Isle of Wight.
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