Flagship NHS training base opens

Coventry, Warwick and Leicester universities will also use the centre

A state-of-the-art medical training and research centre is to open in Coventry on Friday.

The Clinical Sciences Centre is part of Coventry and Warwickshire's new £400m "super hospital".

Hundreds of nurses will be trained there and the site will also be a base for pioneering medical research.

Eminent scientist Sir Richard Doll - who discovered the link between smoking and lung cancer - will open the new centre on lunchtime.

'Dedicated facilities'

The centre is one of a handful that will become operational in the UK and Europe.

It will house a mock operating theatre and ward, an extensive library, with laptops at every work station and other teaching facilities.

Coventry, Warwick and Leicester universities will use the centre.

"Traditionally, students are taught in hospital surroundings and have to learn when operating theatres and the like are free," said a spokesman.

"This is one of the first centres to open with dedicated facilities for training where medical students can practise their skills in a live environment."

After cutting the ribbon, Sir Richard Doll will give a lecture on the effects of smoking in the UK to 250 healthcare professionals.

The 78-acre super hospital will open in 2006.