SURGEON LEADS TEAM IN TREATING HAND TRAUMA PATIENTS IN EAST AFRICA

Hand trauma patients in East Africa have been receiving treatment at a new purposebuilt healthcare facility in a service launched by a Peterborough City Hospital surgeon and his team.

Consultant Hand and Wrist Surgeon Jonathan Jones took unpaid leave as part of his semiretirement plan to spend four weeks working for the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) - making a difference to the lives of patients thousands of miles away in Malawi.

The trip to the central public hospital was part of a transitional plan to deliver this new subspecialty service in a new purpose-built healthcare facility.

Mr Jones was among the first in a team of hand surgeons to visit the new Lilongwe Institute of Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery (LION) where patients are treated free of charge.

He said: “The team quickly integrated with the local orthopaedic department, both seeing and treating a large number of hand trauma resulting from road traffic accidents and industrial accidents in addition to machete (“Panga”) injuries from street crime.

“We developed processes of care and organised equipment, including hand instrument sets, and set up weekly teaching sessions on hand surgery and a virtual multi-disciplinary team service with surgeons working in “National Centres of Excellence” in the UK.”

Patients treated by the BSSH included a 90-yearold diabetic woman who was suffering from severe index finger infection.

Mr Jones added: “She was very satisfied with her treatment and paid me a delightful compliment, that she would give me some of her land - which I was told is really equivalent to a big thank you!”

The BSHS and the British Association of Hand Therapists (BAHT) will assist LION in the delivery of treatment for elective and traumatic conditions of the hand for the next five years.

For more information on the project please visit www.bssh.ac.uk/about/lion_hand_unit.