The completed Centre for Health Science (Ionad Eòlas Slàinte) in Inverness was officially opened on Monday, January 19, by Jim Mather MSP, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, at a ceremony attended by project partners as well as business leaders and academics.

A public open day is also being held today.

The £23m Centre for Health Science (CfHS) was developed and is owned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) supported by funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

The project brought together a seven-way public, private and academic sector partnership among HIE, NHS Highland, NHS Education for Scotland, University of Stirling, UHI Millennium Institute, University of Aberdeen and LifeScan Scotland Ltd.

The facility is designed to create a centre of excellence and encourage collaboration in education, training, research, business incubation and commercialisation in the healthcare sector.

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The Centre for Health Science lies beside Raigmore Hospital and the first phase accommodates the University of Stirling's department of nursing and midwifery, NES postgraduate medical centre, a new library for the Highland healthcare workforce and top class facilities for healthcare meetings and conferences.

Phase two of the centre includes a Clinical Skills Centre which uses state-of-the-art interactive manikins for teaching clinical care, resuscitation skills, minor surgery and moving and handling patients to students as well as the healthcare workforce.

A new dental centre has been set up to provide NHS dental care alongside a dental school serving final year dental students from Glasgow and Dundee as well as UHI students studying for a BSc in Oral Health Science.

The Centre for Rural Health is the only research centre of its kind in the UK - a collaborative venture between UHI Millennium Institute and the University of Aberdeen with a mission to advance knowledge of health and healthcare services in remote and rural communities. Developed through NHS Education for Scotland (NES), the Remote and Rural Healthcare Educational Alliance (RRHEAL) has a Scotland-wide remit to explore new methods of bringing high quality education to the rural healthcare workforce.

Enterprise Minister Jim Mather said: "The Centre for Health Science provides state-of-the-art facilities in an excellent environment for training and research, as well as high-quality jobs. It represents a major addition to health science activity already underway in the Highlands and Islands.

"Along with HIE and UHI, the Scottish Government is working hard to ensure we can exploit the full potential of the life science sector and ensure it makes the maximum possible contribution to increasing sustainable economic growth."

(GK/JM)