Press Release: Royal College Announces New Development to Support Humanitarian Healthcare Professionals
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A leading surgical College has announced an update to its Faculty of Remote and Rural Healthcare (FRRH) as part of its ongoing partnership with UK-Med to provide support to individuals and organisations working in humanitarian healthcare.
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) has created the expanded Faculty of Remote, Rural and Humanitarian Healthcare (FRRHH), which will support a global network of healthcare professionals working in this fast-developing field.
Including humanitarian healthcare within the existing FRRH structure is expected to strengthen the Faculty’s efforts to become a global network for professionals working in clinical and non-clinical environments where skills and experience beyond urban healthcare systems are often required.
The newly integrated Faculty will support the needs of individuals and organisations working across the public, private and third sectors, by setting professional and educational standards, developing leadership capacity, accrediting training and supporting innovation in the field. In addition to our remote and rural healthcare practitioners, the Faculty will act as a professional home for humanitarian healthcare workers and will ensure that those with ambitions to work in the field are supported to move between domestic practice and overseas work.
Two world-leading humanitarian experts have been appointed to the Faculty’s Executive Committee to help shape its strategic focus and drive forward its efforts to support healthcare professionals in the sector.
Founder of UK medical aid charity UK-Med, Professor Tony Redmond OBE, has been appointed to the Executive Committee, bringing over thirty years’ experience of international emergency humanitarian aid.
Professor Redmond has organised medical support in response to some of the world’s most challenging humanitarian disasters, including earthquakes in Haiti and Iran, the UN air crash in Kosovo, conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and establishing tented hospitals for Kurdish refugees on the Iran-Iraq border.
Mr Andy Kent, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, has been appointed as Faculty Deputy Chair. Andy has a military background and has most recently travelled to Beirut with a medical needs assessment team to make recommendations for the UK’s health response in Lebanon’s crisis struck capital. He is also the current surgical lead for UK-Med and a medical advisor to the Halo Trust.
Professor Michael Griffin OBE, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, said: “It is with enormous pleasure that we welcome this newly integrated Faculty. It has long been recognised that the needs and challenges of delivering healthcare in a remote and rural setting overlap with and mirror those of the humanitarian environment.
“The expansion of this Faculty is a fantastic move for the College, and I believe it will be extremely beneficial to people and organisations in these fields.
“I’m very proud of everyone who has contributed to the development of this Faculty so far and I am delighted to welcome Anthony and Andy to the Executive Committee. I know their expertise and experience will be invaluable in shaping the Faculty’s strategy and I look forward to seeing what lies ahead.”
This important development marks a key milestone in the collaborative efforts of the RCSEd and UK-Med to establish a professional home for humanitarian healthcare professionals. This effort has been supported to date by funding from UK aid from the Department for International Development (DfID).
ENDS
Issued by Beattie on behalf of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. For further information, please contact the team on rcsed@beattiegroup.com or 07730 415 096.
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