Nigel Rossiter and Primary Trauma Care Foundation – Fellowship Fund Update

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Primary Trauma Care Foundation – Life and limb saving training supported by the Faculty of Remote, Rural and Humanitarian Healthcare

 

In this article, we bring our readers an update on the first FRRHH Fellowship Fund which has seen a total of £29,935.88 granted to seven projects in Burundi, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Nepal, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Nigel Rossiter, Chair of the Primary Trauma Care Foundation (PTCF), an Oxford-based charity with extensive global reach, reports back on the outcomes of the primary trauma care training delivered in Burundi with the support of the FRRHH Fellowship Fund support.

Alongside Nigel and his team, PTCF has trained, without charge, over 100,000 medical staff in 80 countries, including multiple war and conflict zones. This exceptional work has earned the foundation well deserved recognition and UK national news coverage of their work. BBC South Today reported on the work of the foundation on 22 June 2022, and the PTCF’s £1 Appeal was launched on BBC Radio Oxford.

The work of PTCF began in 1997, with the first course held in Fiji. The PTCF Team now deliver over 160 primary trauma care courses each year, supporting local doctors and nurses in their own countries to train their first-responder health workers in basic life and limb-saving trauma care for injured people of all ages.

PTCF have delivered their courses in more than 80 countries, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and other locations affected by conflict. Healthcare workers in these countries can now deliver improved care for injured people because of the training received. Training was also adapted and continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FRRHH Fellowship Fund provided a grant to support the delivery of primary trauma care training in Burundi, a landlocked African country bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The aim of the PTC training is to reduce unnecessary death and disability by providing proven first responder training, which is designed to cascade and ensure sustained healthcare change for the future.

The call for help in providing this vital training came from Dr Gilles Eloi Rwibuka, Head of the Anaesthetic Trauma Society of Burundi (ATSARPS) who launched the primary trauma care training in Burundi from 14-18 March 2022. PTCF and ATSARPS were able to train 49 doctors and nurses and 12 new PTC instructors.

Dr Gilles Eloi Rwibuka said:

On behalf of ATSARPS, I would like to thank the Primary Trauma Care Foundation and the key people of the Foundation with whom we had various exchanges over a period of 5 years on ways of introducing the PTC course in Burundi; for having accompanied and supported this project on this long process of planning and implementation. I also thank all the parties who have been involved in supporting both morally and financially the actual implementation of this project during this year 2022. I thank the team of trainers from the DRC and the local team for the coordination of activities. These include: ATSARPS, PTCF, FRRHH at RCSEd, THET, Kings Congo Global Health Partnerships and the Burundi Ministry of Health.

 

 

Speaking about the success of his project, and the potential future research outcomes, Nigel Rossiter said:

The team in Burundi have now become self-sufficient and cascaded the training out, particularly as we were successful in obtaining recognition and buy in from the Burundi Ministry of Health and have run two further training courses already - which is superb. This PTC training is also part of a research project into the long term and sustained outcomes of an educational project. The first patients to be followed have already been recruited and we hope to reveal these research results in the future. Without the support of the FRRHH Fellowship Fund, none of this would be possible.

 

 

We look forward to bringing you further updates on the remaining recipients of the FRRHH Fellowship Fund.

 

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