Pharmacy students at the University of Bath are to have access to a new ‘simulation’ facility where they can enact the types of patient interaction they are likely to face as qualified pharmacists.

The Day Lewis Pharmacy Management Simulation Suite is the product of a £100,000 gift from pharmacy chain Day Lewis to UoB’s department of pharmacy and pharmacology. The company said it would help students “learn to apply management and leadership skills by running a simulated pharmacy”.

The suite was officially opened on Thursday October 10. The multiple made the gift in memory of its late co-founder Dr Kirit Patel.

Company director Rupa Patel said: “Kirit was passionate about continuous learning and loved the pharmacy profession, so it is an honour to be opening this facility in his memory.”

Professor Nick Brook, dean of the faculty of science, said the simulation suite offered “a forward-thinking space in the department in which students can benefit from the gamification of learning, developing a range of management and leadership skills that they can practically apply in real time”.

He added that it would help ensure “that the next generation of pharmacists being trained at Bath are well-equipped to adapt to changes that the profession will inevitably experience”.