Saving life and limb: Ukrainian surgeons learn from the best

Surgeons from hospitals in Ukraine made a special visit to London to learn more about complex surgery techniques that could help them save lives and limbs at home.

The Ukrainian surgeons spent two days meeting members of our specialist trauma plastic surgery team at St Mary's Hospital.

Our experienced clinicians were able to pass on expert advice about the latest surgical techniques, including specialist guidance on reconstructing severely damaged arms and legs.

The visit was arranged by our Major Trauma Director, Shehan Hettiaratchy, who previously travelled to Ukraine to support surgeons treating casualties of the Russian invasion.

"The medical teams in Ukraine are doing an extraordinary job in incredibly challenging circumstances, especially in terms of the high number of casualties and the complexity of cases," Shehan said.

"We're in a strong position to support them, given our specialism in this area, and I hope they'll be able to take some ideas back to their colleagues in Ukraine."

St Mary's is one of London's four major trauma centres, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The hospital's major trauma teams treat patients who may have suffered serious injuries and need highquality, specialist emergency care.

As well as visiting Ukraine on three separate occasions over the last year, Shehan has also provided online training and support to surgeons working to treat casualties of the ongoing conflict.

"The Ukrainian surgeons are quickly becoming experts in these complex surgeries," he added. "We'll soon be learning from them."

Before training as a nurse, Hannah Grace Deller studied photography, developing skills she'd later use to capture scenes from the Covid wards at St Mary's Hospital. Her work gives a rare insight into life on the front line.

In my 20s I was living in New York and working as a waitress in an Italian restaurant. One day, two fine art photographers came in and they asked if I'd mind watching their kids for a little while. I said I would - and later they showed me their cameras. I had a bit of a flair for it and they employed me as a photography assistant. Since then I've always taken pictures.

As a photographer, you want to go and travel. I used to think I'd be a nurse with Médecins Sans Frontières, going out to different countries and then taking pictures. But in some ways, with Covid-19, it came to me. Photography helps me unwind and destress, which was really useful during the pandemic.

The first pandemic photo I took was in March 2020 and it features in Imperial Health Charity's Held in Hope exhibition. Many of our children's wards had become Covid wards and I was walking down the corridor when I saw a colleague stuck in a set of one-way doors.

You can enjoy our Held in Hope exhibition for free at Charing Cross, Hammersmith and St Mary's hospitals.

I helped him, but just before he came through I got my phone out and took a picture. I thought, 'I should be documenting this'.

From then on, when someone was on their break, or putting on their PPE, I would take a few quick snaps on my phone - with their permission. I'd also take photos going to and from the hospital to try and capture the strangeness of lockdown life. There's one picture of a set of swings. They'd been wrapped up to stop people using them, and they almost looked like spiders' webs.

In hindsight, the photos on the wards were almost like therapy for me - taking pictures of the day and making a scrapbook with stories.

I wanted to show life from the inside a little bit more and how we were getting on. It was more to have a memory of it all - I didn't think it would turn into anything.

My nurse friends also shared poems and memories. We spent a lot of time together.

We were like a big family and were