A SUPPORT centre for student nurses housed in the defunct Princess Margaret Hospital has re-opened at a new location.

The new Swindon Education Centre, at the University of Bath's Oakfield campus, offers a wide range of resources.

It will be used by around 300 student nurses who are being trained at the GWH and in clinics in the Swindon area.

Facilities include two large classrooms as well as offices for academic and administrative staff. There is also an IT suite and a well-stocked library with specialist journals. Trainees will also have access to specialist health and social care databases.

Although based at the University of Bath's campus, the centre is run by the Bristol-based University of the West of England (UWE) under a partnership deal.

Steven West, dean of the faculty of health and social care at the UWE, said: "This facility will meet the needs of students undertaking placements and training in Swindon." Student nurse Charlotte Brown, 24, from Cirencester, said: "We were worried that we were not going to get a new centre when the PMH closed, but this is brilliant."

The university planned to transfer the centre to the GWH, but the accommodation provided was too small.