Burdett Nursing has responded to our nursing appeal, awarding £24,000 for nursing training in Sierra Leone.

Resurge Africa in recent years has been working in partnership with Ghanaian doctors to establish a Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Unit in Sierra Leone along the model of the effective and well-run Ghanaian Unit. This unit requires nursing, anaesthetic and medical expertise. The charity is committed over the long term and with the same dedication that has been shown in Ghana over 18 years is working to establish an effective independent unit in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone is in a much worse starting position than Ghana was having had the challenges of war so recently.  Training institutions have been completely unable to operate in the recent past and the country is desperate for skilled nurses.  Certainly a Reconstructive Unit would not be able to function without first addressing nurse training. The grant from the Burdett trust will go a long way towards this, enabling us to fund:

• the training of nurses from Sierra Leone in the Ghana Centre for 3 months, 3 times annually;
• the training of a nurse anaesthetist over 2 years in Sierra Leone
• the travel expenses of visiting UK nurse specialist volunteers, 3 per team visiting Sierra Leone twice annually

Resurge has demonstrated a sound track record in Ghana.  This includes over £1,000,000 worth of equipment as well as sending NHS volunteer teams to train doctors and nurses in Africa. African doctors, nurses, therapists and anaesthetists have been given opportunities to travel to the United Kingdom and elsewhere to achieve training.  These have included nurses travelling to Dundee and Glasgow for training, and Scottish nurses travelling to Africa. Because the Unit could not function without being able to retain good nursing staff, the Charity backed up its provision of nurse training with the building of a nurses’ hostel at the hospital.

The Burdett Trust for Nursing is an independent charitable trust named after Sir Henry Burdett KCB, the founder of the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses (RNPFN). The Trust was set up in recognition of the foundation, philosophy and structure of the RNPFN. The Trust uses its funds to empower nurses and make significant improvements to the patient care environment.