This June, we partnered with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Ukraine to deliver our training in Ukraine. We trained 69 medical professionals, including those from the frontlines and other regions, who travelled to Poltava to acquire vital trauma skills to take back to their hospitals. This course brought our global figure of doctors trained to over 2000. 

No end in sight  

After two years of war, Ukraine is dropping from the headlines, yet the conflict continues and conditions remain dreadful. Kateryna Barabash, Emergency Medical Services Officer at WHO said: “From a humanitarian perspective, the casualty rates are not decreasing. The need for care near the frontline remains high.”

“Media attention is decreasing, affecting financial support, reducing project budgets, and diminishing humanitarian services.”

Despite the lack of spotlight as other disasters intensify across the globe, we remain committed to our work in Ukraine and have now trained over 700 doctors from territories right across the country. On our latest Poltava mission, we ran two Hostile Environment Surgical Training-Anaesthesia (HEST-A) course twice and a Hostile Environment Surgical Training (HEST) course for surgeons and anaesthetists. 

Localisation and sustainability

In early June, we also funded Ukrainian surgeons to come to our latest UK course to learn directly from our Co-Founder Professor Nott, and also how to take the reins and join our team as official Ukrainian trainers. 

Five of these professionals trained on our course in Ukraine as members of our faculty, enhancing our sustainability and localisation efforts. They now apply their teaching skills in their work settings, training others as they operate on injured people, building capacity in Ukraine and on the frontlines. 

“Our greatest achievement from this course is that localisation has actually happened. This is our first cohort of Ukrainians delivering our course near the frontline.” – Nick Cartwright, Programmes Manager at the David Nott Foundation. 

Missile attacks continue to devastate

Russian drone and missile attacks continue. Most recently, attacks inflicted devastation at Okhmatdyt Сhildren’s Hospital in Kyiv, throwing the nation into outrage. Clearly, there remains an urgent need for surgical and anaesthetic teams that are equipped to save lives and limbs – that’s why the skills and techniques taught on our courses are essential.

Kateryna shared: “The foundation has a solid technical background in trauma surgery, offering valuable tips and tricks that match the situations they may face. Simple techniques, like tying a knot effectively, can be more impactful than revolutionary methods. Sharing practical experiences and real-life stories also make this training invaluable.” 

“When you have many trauma patients, it’s hard to share experiences with peers. In this environment, you can do that and set up valuable learning opportunities.” 

We strive to provide a safe environment for doctors to discuss patience cases and learn from real-life experiences from each other and our faculty. Creating space for this forum fosters powerful knowledge sharing of new skills and techniques. 

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