It wasn't all work: mid week we went to The Alley in Strabane to hear the Ulster orchestra's Christmas medley

A vital part of the VISION2020 links programme is the visits of team members to each other’s hospitals. These visits allow detailed discussions to take place and ideas are formed when comparing how things are done in the different units. We had been waiting for this visit of the Nigerian team to the Western trust so that the teams could make a detailed assessment of the plans for the 3 years of the programme. We were delighted to welcome our Nigerian colleagues who joined us for the past week (Nov 29 to Dec 5).  Here’s Rosie’s summary of what happened…

Dr Abuh (paediatric ophthalmologist), David Lawal (Anaethetist), Augustine Etoh (optometrist), Thomas Achi (paediatric nurse with interest in orthoptics), John Awah (Theatre Charge nurse) and Maryam Jegede  (theatre scrub nurse) have just spent a week with us in the Western trust.  They arrived in the dark on Sunday evening and left in the dark on Saturday morning.  In between times they spent almost all of the day light hours in Altnagelvin and the Erne Hospital.  They shadowed their counterparts in theatre and outpatient clinics at the beginning of the week.  Then a full day was spent planning the next three years activities.  We detailed exactly what training areas would be addressed, by whom, where, and for how long.  Roughly it works out that each year the teams will visit each others hospitals for between 1 week and 1 month.  The areas that will be addressed are paediatric cataract management, orthoptic assessments and strabismus surgery, efficient use of theatre staff and improved and bio medical engineering support.  In addition it is hoped that a link will be made with a national Kenyan retinoblastoma group to improve retinoblastoma management.

Activity planning session discussions

By the end of the week the rapport between the two teams was fantastic.  We met in September as strangers, having observed one another working in our own environments respect for one another has developed.  We all have a heartfelt enthusiasm for the training programme that lies ahead.

By the end of the activity planning session we'd gained a new team member - Graham McFarland, biomedical engineer