Newsletter May 2019
Welcome to our latest news and round-up of how your support has been helping us to train more doctors with the specialist medical skills they need to work in war and disaster zones.
David Nott in conversation with Sarah Montague 
On the evening of the 30th April, David was joined in conversation with the BBC’s Sarah Montague at the Saatchi Gallery to discuss his book, War Doctor. He shared stories of his work around the world in war zones and why he and Elly set up the Foundation to share his knowledge and expertise with local doctors working on the ground. Sarah asked him how many lives he thinks he’s saved through his own work overseas in war zones and also through our training programme “Possibly in the hundreds of thousands,” David replied.
Among the guests was actor and former doctor (of another variety) Peter Capaldi. He noted that the evening was “a humbling and inspiring experience, meeting both David and Elly.”
We are delighted to report that, through the generosity of all those who attended the event, enough money was raised to provide equipment to train more than forty surgeons as well as award ten fully-funded scholarships to surgeons currently operating in war zones and disaster areas.
HEST in Kenya
The Faculty of the David Nott Foundation recently returned from its latest mission to Nakura, Kenya (just a short ride from the capital Nairobi) where it delivered its latest Hostile Environment Surgical Training course.
In partnership COSECSA and Egerton University the Faculty delivered training to 24 surgeons and general practitioners over a 4-day period. During this time, a great range of skills were covered including everything from ballistics examining the effects of low and high-velocity bullets and the stages of a blast injury on the body; vascular surgery and head and neck surgery.
A recent addition to our team (one that comes in the form of a full-body simulator called Heston) has proven to be one of our most valuable assets. It makes a great addition to the training process, allowing delegates to easily visualise and study further the surgical procedures being taught, with reference to a remarkably accurate human body.
Help us train more surgeons on our HEST courses by donating www.davidnottfoundation.com/donate
David on the table as Ammar Darwish demonstrates pelvic fracture stabilisation procedures
Surgeon runs the London Marathon
Melanie and her daughter at the London Marathon
“The London Marathon is an iconic event and it was a great privilege to be able to take part with international champions and 42,000 other heroes. I’ve learned a great deal through six months of training and had fantastic support from my family and friends & colleagues at work.
It has been a great experience. Something completely different to my usual life as a colorectal surgeon and mother of three. Raising money for the David Nott Foundation and Bowel Cancer UK has been very important to me. The fundraising has revolved around food – cakes piled up at work with a donation box, fundraising dinners, lastly cake sales at my daughter’s school every day in the week before the marathon.
Read more of Melanie's story here.
STAE course, April 2019
Your support enables us to offer scholarships to surgeons who work in very challenging conditions. It costs £5,000 per student and we cover this entire cost through your generosity. On our most recent course, delivered at the start of April 2019, the training covered how to care for eye injuries from blast wounds, as well as a number of other elements of specialist surgery.
This course was attended by 13 surgeons from countries around the world including Nepal, Syria, Uganda and Chile. The scholars tell us that the way the course is organised is invaluable. “We’re taught the procedure first as a whole group and then get to practice it afterwards in a small team under the supervision team of a surgeon from the Faculty Team,” all of whom are expert surgeons with first-hand experience of working in a conflict zone.
We heard from Vadym who joined us from Ukraine; “This course is way beyond my expectations. It is the best thing that has happened to me in the field of austere environment surgery.”
Paddle Power!
A little over 35 hours is how long it took David Burton and Mattie Morgan to paddle 125 miles from Devizes in Wiltshire to Westminster in central London – a hugely demanding and impressive feat. We are incredibly grateful for their dedication to the Foundation.
You told us what you think!
In response to your comments we will increase the regularity of our newsletter to every 6-8 weeks. We are also aware that people use the website as a primary resource for information - we will continue to make sure it's kept fully up-to-date with all our latest news. We hope you continue to enjoy hearing more about all we do here at the David Nott Foundation.
Kenya HEST April 2019
The Faculty of the David Nott Foundation recently returned from its latest mission to Nakura, Kenya (just a short ride from the capital Nairobi) where it delivered its latest Hostile Environment Surgical Training course.
Graciously hosted by Egerton University and COESCSA, the Faculty delivered training to 24 surgeons and general practitioners over a 4-day period. During this time, a great range of skills were covered including everything from ballistics examining the effects of low and high-velocity bullets and the stages of a blast injury on the body; vascular surgery and head and neck surgery.
Despite the course being full-on and packed with content, all the delegates were conscientious and showed impressive dedication to learning all they could from the course.
On our HEST courses it is important to select a curriculum of training we feel will best match the level of ability of delegates in attendance. With the general practitioners being relatively experienced and accomplished surgeons, the level of training was advanced and the quality of interaction all round was excellent.
A recent addition to our team (one that comes in the form of a full-body simulator called Heston) has proven to be one of our most valuable assets. It makes a great addition to the training process, allowing delegates to easily visualise and study further the surgical procedures being taught, with reference to a perfectly accurate human body.
As ever, we are grateful to our donors for supporting us in our increasingly important work to deliver the best surgical training directly to those who need it most. A recent study in The Lancet showed that nearly 17 million people die prematurely every year from surgically treatable conditions, and that of the 313 million surgical procedures that are carried out each year, only 6% of these take place in the poorest countries worldwide. Furthermore, the study notes that, 5 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe and affordable healthcare and that 143 million additional surgical procedures are needed in lower and middle-income countries in order to save lives and prevent disability.
What this shows then is a lack of, currently, adequate surgical healthcare worldwide, though impacting the poorest nations most. We believe our mission ties in directly with one of the primary needs for the provision of safe surgical care as suggested by the authors of this study: increased numbers of trained surgical providers.
With this in mind, any support you kindly give us goes a long way to tackling this issue that effects so many. Our training serves those on the front-lines. Our training saves lives.
David Nott in conversation with Sarah Montague
On the evening of the 30th April, David was joined in conversation with the BBC’s Sarah Montague at the Saatchi Gallery to discuss his new book, War Doctor. He was sharing stories of his work around the world in war zones and why he and Elly set up the Foundation to share his knowledge and expertise with local doctors working on the ground. Sarah asked him how many lives he thinks he's saved through his own work overseas in war zones and also through our training programme "Possibly in the hundreds of thousands," David replied.
Among the guests was actor and former doctor (of another variety) Peter Capaldi. He noted that the evening was "a humbling and inspiring experience, meeting both David and Elly."
We are delighted to report that, through the generosity of all those who attended the event, enough money was raised to provide equipment to train more than forty surgeons as well as award ten fully-funded scholarships to surgeons currently operating in war zones and disaster areas.