ICENI, Colchester Hospital - Case Study

The ICENI centre is an internationally renowned centre of excellence for teaching and training in minimally invasive general surgery, based in Colchester, Essex. They have the highest concentration of advanced laparoscopic surgeons in the UK and are able to deliver high quality intensive tailor made training. In November 2008, they visited China as part of an Essex County Council trade mission, to explore the potential for their training offer in the country and to foster links with Chinese hospitals and academic institutions.

The mission solidified the relationship between mission delegates, ICENI and Anglia Ruskin University, getting the organizations working much closer together and signing a number of training agreements since. The centre also managed to secure funding from the University for their state-of-the-art training facilities in Colchester that will open to the public in October 2010.

‘Our participation in the mission was very constructive, it helped us clarify and prepare our offer for the Chinese market. We are very hopeful of our relationship with Wuxi and expect to see fruitful results very soon’

Tan Arulampalam - Consultant Surgeon, Colchester Hospital

During the mission the Council was able to set up a number of meetings for both partners with key decision makers from hospitals in the Jiangsu Province. Wuxi People’s Hospital was then identified as a potential partner and a delegation from the hospital visited Essex in March 2010 to clarify the training schemes required for the future and sign a memorandum of understanding with ICENI and Anglia Ruskin.