Health Link in Focus

Posted on 07. Dec, 2010 by Rach in Homepage

NHS Borders and St Francis Hospital, Katete, Zambia - The twinning between NHS Borders and St Francis Hospital (SFH) Katete in eastern Zambia, including the District, is going well with lots of enthusiasm from NHS clinical and management staff, and the Chair of the Health Board.

The following programmes are running at the SFH in liaison with NHS Borders:

Syndromic and Diagnostic Management of STIs to broaden training to include HIV couple counselling and opt-out HIV testing, partner notification and contraceptive services by additional specialist nurse input.
Pharmacy: Funding was given by IHLFS in 2010 to improve the pharmacy system to ensure a reliable supply of medicines and surgical supplies for St Francis Hospital, Katete, Zambia.
A three-year old ultrasound machine has been donated by NHS Borders to SFH to improve the diagnostic work in radiology at SFH. Local funding has raised money for a radiographer to visit early 2011 to train on the new machine. A number of oxygenator machines have also been donated to the paediatric ward.
A management trainee from NHS Borders raised money to go to work at SFH for two months in 2010. She has greatly helped with various management and staff challenges, and taught management theory to the staff.
Midwifery. Following from a needs assessment in 2010 by Dr Brian Magowan of obstetric emergencies referred to SFH from the District it was thought that training would benefit the quality, timing and outcome of referrals. Plans are afoot to train both District and SFDH midwives using the teaching model based on the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine “Life saving Skills” course.
Paediatrics . A consultant physician from NHS Borders, and a paediatrican in training Dr Sara Burns, have worked at SFH during 2009-10. Others are keen to go if funding can be found.