12th October 2016

Welsh specialist nurse training will ‘transform care’ in Africa

Cardiff University is joining forces with NHS Wales to offer life-saving specialist nurse training in Namibia that is unavailable across much of southern Africa.

The peri-operative care training of 24 nurses – provided in collaboration with the University of Namibia (UNAM) – is intended to transform care for patients before, during and after surgery.

The training will include techniques such as managing pain after operations, interpreting blood results and monitoring the respiratory system.

Clinical experts, led by Cardiff University’s Professor Judith Hall and Dr Brian Jenkins, will deliver lectures and workshops from 25-27 October in the Namibian capital, Windhoek. Nurses from across Namibia will attend the sessions.

The training has been organised by Cardiff University’s Phoenix Project, an engagement project that works with UNAM and the Welsh government on activities involving education, health and science.

Hon Julieta Kavetuna, Namibia’s deputy minister of health and social services, personally asked Professor Hall to set up the specialist nurse training.

The training involves specialist staff from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Cwm Taf University Health Board.

Professor Hall said: “I’m delighted that the Phoenix Project is in a position to facilitate ground-breaking nurse training in Namibia alongside the Welsh NHS and UNAM.

“It’s the first time that Namibia has had specialist nurse training outside midwifery, so it will really make a difference to the care that patients receive,” she said. “I hope it will be transformational.

“If you look elsewhere in southern Africa, this kind of training is only really available in South Africa,” said Professor Hall.

She added: “It is about looking after patients during the whole surgical process from referral to discharge. The training will support medical delivery of surgery and anaesthesia.”

Judith Hall is both an academic and a Consultant Anaesthetist in the NHS and has worked successful in medical device design, drug/device development and process improvement in the NHS. She leads the Bill Mapleson Centre, which focuses on clinical innovation. She is also a MediWales board member.