80 surgeons and anaesthetists upskilled in Kyiv, Ukraine
Our new Chief Operating Officer, Tim Law, recently returned from his first mission. Tim supported our trainers to deliver two surgical training courses in Kyiv. With logistical support from our partner World Health Organisation (WHO), 80 surgeons and anaesthetists from frontline cities learned how to treat mass trauma injuries using world-leading surgical teaching models.
To continue upskilling Ukraine’s frontline doctors, our team embarked on the challenging journey to Kyiv, first flying into Poland and travelling by bus to our final training location two days later. Despite a temporary bus breakdown in scorching heat and consequent concerns about entering Lviv before curfew, our trainers arrived safely in Kyiv and began preparing teaching materials, tools and models for the arrival of more than 80 Ukrainian doctors.
Over six days, our faculty of trainers delivered two condensed hostile environment surgical training (HEST) courses, rich in trauma surgery teachings and practical sessions.
This year, we expanded our course to include anaesthetics – a vital component of trauma surgery care. During this mission, two new faculty trainers, Dr Ian Tyrrell-Marsh and Dr Tom Dolphin, led our anaesthetics module and upskilled 22 anaesthetists from across Ukraine.
Doctors united in learning
Although united by a shared desire to manage catastrophic injuries, attendees came to our training from different Ukrainian cities.
Tim Law, our COO at the Foundation, shared: “Participation in the course was designed such that about two thirds of doctors came from front-facing oblasts or provinces. They came from Zaporizhizhia, Dnipro, Kyiv and beyond. Most of them were based in civilian hospitals.
A lot of their cities are subjected to bombardment on a reasonably regular basis. As we’re still seeing in the news, attacks lead to casualties of war, some of which are military, but many are everyday people.
Often civilian hospitals treat both civilian and military casualties, as many frontline fighters are transferred from military hospitals to make space for the next round of injured.”
Unrivalled education
Witnessing my first surgical training course in action – there is no doubt it is world-leading education.
"It was fascinating to be able to see the real value that the David Nott Foundation can add to the skills of medical professionals forced by circumstance to react to the challenges presented by armed conflict. It’s world-class education delivered by seasoned practitioners, and based on years of accumulation of course materials and conflict-specific skills.
The combination of experience within the training faculty, course material quality and the practical sessions with Heston, our human body war wound simulator, enables demonstrations that otherwise aren’t possible in Ukraine,” continued Tim.
Cadavers cannot be used for teaching in Ukraine, and our war wound model has been described by surgeons as even more effective than cadaver training.
Some shared that they’ve never had access to such state-of-the-art materials and were excited to be able to take our hand-made silicone hearts back to their hospitals to continue their practice of cardiac suture repair.
Remnants of war
Although the likelihood of active conflict in Kyiv has lessened, remnants of war can be seen in and around the city. Air raids are a common backdrop, often ignored by locals as they try to continue with their everyday lives.
On the road from Lviv into Kyiv, you can see signs of Ukrainian defence. Minefield markings, skull and cross bone signs and string between trees signpost dangerous land.
On the anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, approximately 40 Russian military vehicles had been lined up along the main street. A sign that although life goes on in Kyiv, national pride and the community’s acknowledgement of their country’s continued battle remains.
“We aim to continue to develop this world-class training, such that we can continue to deliver training in the world’s most challenging environments, enabling medical professionals to enhance their skills whilst remaining close to where they are most needed", shared Tim.
"We will develop our offering to include new modules on hospital management and surgical nursing and are in the process of building a second synthetic full-body simulator and of increasing the scale of our teaching faculty. Taken together, this should enable us to increase the scale, scope and quality of our future interventions. Thank you to our supporters for helping to make these dreams a reality.”
Apply for our new Programmes Officer role
Job Title: Programmes Officer at the David Nott Foundation
Summary: This role will support the planning, delivery, and evaluation of overseas Hostile Environment Surgical Training (HEST) courses and to lead on administration for train-the-trainer and Humanitarian Sector Surgical Training (HSST) courses run within the UK. The role holder will be the lead officer for managing the supply chain for programme activity, maintaining an inventory of training materials, developing equipment manifests, procuring items in short supply, liaising with logistics contractors for international movements, and accounting for items on a routine basis. The programmes officer will also provide staff and administrative support to a range of other initiatives within the Foundation, as required. This could include helping to plan and deliver events for staff and volunteers, maintaining volunteer databases, supporting office administration, and helping fundraising and communications functions.
Accountability: Initially, this role will be accountable to the Chief Operating Officer.
The David Nott Foundation is a UK registered charity which trains doctors in the surgical skills they need to be able to provide relief and assistance in areas affected by conflict and catastrophe worldwide.
Responsibilities:
Programme Development
- Assist in the planning of overseas Hostile Environment Surgical Training missions and help lead the planning and pre-course administration of the UK-based Humanitarian Sector Surgical Training and Train the Trainer courses.
- Manage the Foundation’s HEST course training equipment including procurement, management and repair.
- Manage course logistics including booking of venues, travel bookings, security planning, visa and passport applications, elucidating vaccination requirements, and preparation/shipment/customs clearance of training materials. Assist in any other pre-course preparation required by programme managers.
- Support post-training evaluation for all courses to include student feedback and end of mission
reports.
Programme Delivery
- Deploy to high-risk countries, occasionally at short notice, to help administer course delivery.
- Provide direct administrative support to the course director for all UK-based courses.
Fundraising
- Input donor data into the Donorfy customer relationship management tool in support of the Fundraising Manager.
- Draft and dispatch thank you letters to donors and supporters.
- Dispatch merchandise and fundraising packs to supporters.
Communications
- Design and schedule social media content in support of the Head of Communications.
- Manage the enquiries inbox ([email protected]) and telephone.
- Draft, for approval, a monthly communications/programmes update email.
- Draft a monthly David Nott Foundation supporter newsletter.
- Upload news stories to the Foundation’s website.
Administration
- Support the executive team in monitoring the progress of key projects and initiatives.
- Work with the Finance Manager to keep track of invoices and payments for teaching equipment and other course expenditures.
- Manage office administration, e.g., booking of taxis, purchase of office supplies etc.
Other administrative tasks as required.
Person Specification
Over and above anything else, we are interested in providing an opportunity to someone from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham who wishes to enter the humanitarian sector and who has not had the benefit of privilege in their upbringing. Desirable qualifications, skills, attributes, and experience might include:
- Knowledge of, and keen interest in, public health, current affairs, the humanitarian sector, and
international relations. - Ability, personal resilience, and willingness to travel to high-risk countries to facilitate HEST
training, which – as things stand – involves approximately 7 weeks of international and 2 weeks
of national travel per year. - Willingness to travel outside of normal office hours.
- Proven ability to manage own workload, organising and prioritising tasks to meet deadlines.
- Good communication, interpersonal and writing skills.
- An ability to manage time-sensitive work in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent organisational skills with an ability to establish tools for effective workload
management. - Willingness to grow with the role.
In common with all staff, the role holder will need to commit to:
- Acting with honesty and integrity at all times.
- Demonstrating respect for others through consideration and empathy in all communications with colleagues and external stakeholders.
- Making an active contribution to developing the Foundation.
- Being receptive to feedback, learning from experience and others, and sharing experience and knowledge.
- Keeping others informed of issues which they need to be aware of because of their role and
responsibilities. - Consciously reviewing mistakes and successes to improve performance.
- Using discretion and being aware of issues requiring confidentiality.
The role holder must have the right to live and work in the UK, and they must not have any
restrictions on their international travel through dual nationality or an entry ban in any country
within which the Foundation might, in future, operate.
Salary: £26000-£28000, depending on skills, attributes, and experience, plus an annual personal development fund of £2000 and membership of a workplace pension scheme.
Contract Length: Permanent, with an initial probationary period of three months.
Application Details: To apply, please send a copy of your CV and a cover letter (no longer than 2 pages) stating why you want this opportunity and detailing how you meet the person specification above. State if you live in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and whether you were a recipient of free school meals. This information will remain confidential. Please send all applications to [email protected] quoting ‘Programmes Officer’ in the subject line.
Application deadline: Midnight 29 September 2023