Northumbria Healthcare selected for volunteering scheme to save lives in the world’s poorest countries

Medical staff from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have been selected for a volunteering scheme that will provide training on life-saving healthcare to medical workers in some of the world’s poorest countries, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced today.
Skilled health professionals from across Britain will teach and offer practical assistance to their counterparts in the developing world under the Government’s Health Partnership Scheme. 
Over four years, the flagship programme will: 
o	Train 13,000 overseas healthcare workers across many disciplines, including trauma care, mental health, anaesthesia and maternal and child health;

o	Support 142 skilled British healthcare volunteers for six months or over; and

o	Enable 600 UK healthcare workers to volunteer overseas on short term placements.

British health workers will pass on their experience to colleagues in developing countries with practical ‘on the job’ training by demonstrating their skills on patients. They will also offer one-to-one mentoring, run courses and develop guidelines and protocols to ensure clinics run more effectively. 
Northumbria Healthcare has been awarded a grant by UK Aid to assist with the development of Tanzania's first dedicated burns unit at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in northern Tanzania. Currently burns patients across Tanzania are being cared for on general surgical wards where the risk of cross infection is high. KCMC is responsible for the treatment of hundreds of burns patients each year, many of them children. Patient records show that one of the main causes of burns injury is household fire. In most homes in Tanzania cooking is undertaken over open fires and electricity shortages mean that most homes use kerosene lamps. An accident can easily happen to cause a mosquito bed net to go up in flames. Sadly in the case of babies and infants, many horrific injuries occur when a mother with untreated epilepsy drops the child onto a hot surface. 
The nurses at KCMC are exceptional. However because the hospital has limited funding and patients have to pay for healthcare, there are limited options for treatment of burns patients. 
The project lead for Northumbria's burns project is Helen Boon MBE who has visited Tanzania several times in the past ten years. Helen will be leading a team of five specialists who are heading off to KCMC in June to deliver teaching and practical training to staff in preparation for the opening of the new burns unit. The Director of Nursing from KCMC, Redempta Mamseri is currently visiting Northumbria to gather information, and to take lessons back to Tanzania to benefit patients.
The project has already helped to introduce new methods of care for burns patients. The team travelling in June plan to extend their work to the villages so that burns can be treated appropriately to prepare patients for the long and often difficult trek to the nearest hospital for treatment.
The scheme also benefits volunteers as they return to the NHS with increased knowledge, better leadership skills and an improved ability to deal with complex situations under pressure. 
Speaking at the Royal College of Midwives to mark International Day of the Midwife, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said:
“British nurses, midwives and medical teams are among the best in the world. The Health Partnership Scheme allows us to harness their expertise to help give developing countries the skills needed to improve the health of some of the world’s poorest people.
"It is an international scandal that one thousand women die every day in pregnancy or childbirth and tackling the tragic scale of maternal and child deaths is a key priority for the British Government.”
Professor Richard Walker, Lead Clinician for the Northumbria health link, said: “We have been working in partnership with KCMC for more than ten years. During this time we have been able to make real differences to health services by combining ideas and energy. The burns project offers a unique opportunity to show the real impact that UK volunteers can have in benefiting healthcare services for the poor.”
The programme is part of the Coalition Government’s commitment to save the lives of at least 50,000 women during pregnancy and childbirth and 250,000 newborn babies by 2015.
The scheme will support up to 50 international partnerships between the NHS and UK institutions and developing countries’ health systems.
Volunteers can be midwives, nurses, doctors or health technicians and long term volunteers from the NHS will have their pension contributions guaranteed.
Partnerships will be encouraged to support the use of innovations in technology, such as live internet link-ups and the use of mobile phones for emergency referrals and operations.
An electronic database, launched today, matches requests for help from developing countries against offers from other countries, including the UK, to provide health assistance.