EL Healthcare Education backed by Innovate UK and Ufi VocTech Trust to develop immersive healthcare training platform
- Ellie Bates
- 11 minutes ago
- 2 min read
EL Healthcare Education has received backing from Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation programme and Ufi VocTech Trust to develop PharmPlay, a new mobile-first learning platform designed to help healthcare professionals build confidence in patient-facing situations.
Founded by learning designer Ellie Bates and pharmacist Dr Lizzie Mills, EL Healthcare Education creates digital learning experiences that combine expertise in healthcare practice, learning design and technology.
Bridging the gap between knowledge and practice
Healthcare professionals complete training and assessments, but opportunities to practise applying their knowledge in realistic situations can be limited.
This can be particularly challenging for people in entry-level and patient-facing roles. They may interact with patients and members of the public regularly while having relatively few opportunities to rehearse conversations and decisions in a safe environment.
PharmPlay is being developed to help address this gap.
The platform combines short interactive challenges, immersive scenarios, game-based learning and AI-supported conversation practice. It will give learners opportunities to practise communication, decision-making and appropriate triage before encountering similar situations in their work.
Ellie Bates, Co-Director of EL Healthcare Education, said:
“We know that people learn best when they can actively engage, make decisions and learn from experience.“PharmPlay combines game-based learning, immersive scenarios and AI-supported interactions to create opportunities for learners to practise skills in a way that feels engaging, accessible and relevant to their role. Backing from Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation programme and Ufi VocTech Trust is helping us explore how immersive learning can contribute to the future of healthcare education.”
Dr Lizzie Mills, Co-Director of EL Healthcare Education, said:
“Healthcare professionals don’t just need knowledge—they need confidence in applying that knowledge when speaking with patients.“Through short interactive challenges and conversation practice, PharmPlay aims to help learners develop the judgement and communication skills needed to support safe and effective care.”
Building on our healthcare education experience
PharmPlay builds on EL Healthcare Education’s wider work in healthcare learning innovation.
We have developed learning solutions for NHS organisations, universities, professional bodies, healthcare publishers and research teams, supporting workforce development across healthcare and higher education.
Development of PharmPlay is underway, with the team working alongside healthcare professionals and other stakeholders to ensure the platform reflects the realities of modern practice.
About EL Healthcare Education
EL Healthcare Education develops digital learning experiences, simulations and educational resources for healthcare professionals.
The company was founded by learning designer Ellie Bates and pharmacist Dr Lizzie Mills, combining healthcare expertise with learning design and educational technology
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