Maximising the potential for further funding in Mozambique.

We asked Sarah Cavanagh, Pharmacist and Peter Donaldson, Consultant Surgeon, to reflect on what they did to increase the chances of their project lasting beyond Health Partnership Scheme funding; by forging links with the Rotary Club they have secured potential funding for the future. Their project aims to develop patient safety programmes at the Central Hospital of Beira, Mozambique.

Tell us more about how you started to engage with the Rotary Club and where you are at now.

We began to engage with the Rotary club fairly early on in our partnership. We attended the 2014 THET conference which provided inspiration in the form of a workshop that covered fundraising strategies, as well as local stakeholder engagement. 

What was the issue?

The main issue was that our partnership did not have a very high profile locally, either within our hospital or in our local community. We also had no certainty that we would secure funding after the project end which is set for February 2017.

Who said or did what, and when?
We presented to Ipswich-Orwell Rotary Club in December 2014, October 2015, July and September 2016. In October 2015 we also presented to Woodbridge Rotary Club. In March 2016 we were invited to attend a drinks reception with local business leaders and our local MP and former Health Secretary, Ben Gummer, who has over many years been very supportive of both Ipswich Hospital and The Rotary Club. We also met with MP Ben Gummer separately, in his constituency office.

Ipswich-Orwell Rotary Club greet Health Professionals from Mozambique

Photograph taken by Eleanor Bull in Ipswich Hospital, April 2016.

What were the immediate reactions and results? What challenges did you face?

Immediately our profile was raised because we had spoken to these influential people. We also had increased press coverage, specifically in The East Anglian Daily Times and the Ipswich Star, through a Rotary-Orwell contact.

We did face some challenges however, as the vision to involve the Rotary Club and seek wider support, as well as additional funding was not universally shared within the team. This led to some debate and delay, but eventually it was seen to be a good idea for the future of the partnership.

What were the longer-term results?

After presenting twice, and without asking for any money, Rotary-Orwell asked whether they could support us financially. They organised a fundraising event in July 2016 and prior to that held a raffle; the two events raised over £700 for the project! As the July fundraising event (Rotary Mastermind Competition) was held in collaboration with the other three Ipswich Rotary Clubs, it has led to friendly contact with these clubs as well as Ipswich-Orwell. The partnership’s involvement has also helped raise awareness of the great work of the Rotary Club and Rotary International.

Sarah Cavanagh presenting the Rotary Ipswich-Orwell banner to Dr Wingi Olivier in Beira 2016

Photograph taken by Eleanor Bull in Ipswich Hospital, April 2016.

Have you solved the problem of sustainability? What will you do next?

We feel that we have to a certain extent solved this problem. There is a much greater understanding and awareness of our partnership both within our hospital and our community, and we have established good links with five of the local Rotary Clubs. After our next visit, in November 2016, we will have a clearer idea of the next steps with the partnership. We will be maintaining our established links with Rotary, with a view to maintaining or even increasing their involvement in the future.

What have you learnt, and what advice could you give to other partnerships?

One of the most important lessons we learned was that asking for money straight away is not necessarily the best way to maximise fundraising, neither is it the best way to forge longer term relationships with potential funders and local opinion leaders. These things take time and it is important to nurture the relationships.

Orwell Rotary Club presenting a cheque for £703 to our partnership in September 2016 for medical and maintenance equipment for Beira Hospital.

Photograph taken by David Vincent, 2016.

Rotary Club and Rotary International consist of 1.2 million neighbours, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change in local communities and around the world. Differing occupations, cultures, and countries give Rotary a unique perspective. Rotary support a variety of causes both at home and abroad. They are specifically identified and targeted to maximize local and global impact. Rotary uses its network of resources and partners to focus service efforts in promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, and growing local economies. As such this ethos ties in very nicely with Health Partnerships.

If you would like more information on the work of the Rotary Club and  Rotary International, please visit https://www.rotary.org/en/about-rotary

Collaborating to change behaviour in Mozambique

In this blog, Eleanor Bull, Health Psychologist, and Corina Mason, Trainee Health Psychologist, reflect on their recent experience working in partnership to change health worker practice at Beira Central Hospital, Mozambique. 

In 2016, as part of a new THET funded programme called the Change Exchange, health psychologists joined existing partnerships to help understand and change healthcare staff practice, helping to strengthen THET partnerships. As health psychology practitioners employed in NHS Grampian, we are fortunate to have broad roles in offering expertise in the complex task of changing health behaviour. Our practice includes patient interventions and research and training of professionals across prevention and self-management initiatives in public health and the acute sector.

Both of us had previously volunteered in Uganda, and were inspired by this fascinating programme. The cultural and personal learning opportunities from previous experience in Uganda had influenced our professional development. Following an article in ‘The Psychologist’ (the British Psychological Society monthly publication), we rushed to register our interest in working with a network of multi-disciplined professionals to improve the local health needs in a low income country.  The partnership approach particularly appealed to us as we observe in our daily practice the benefits of working in collaboration with our multi-disciplined colleagues.

From the outset, we were warmly welcomed into the partnership with great enthusiasm and interest from the fantastic team of health professionals at Ipswich Hospital and Beira Central hospital.  The partnership’s current aim is to improve patient safety through projects related to two key strands of work: medical equipment maintenance and medication safety. The Medical Director at Beira Central Hospital states, ‘this is important for us because hospital changes start in the mind of staff.’

Our role predominantly focuses on the complex strand of medication safety because the ideas being implemented by Beira Hospital professionals depend on changes in staff practice. Some initiatives include:

· adaptations to in-patient medication charts
· development and delivery of drug dosage calculation training
· availability of emergency drug boxes on each ward

During our visit to Beira Central hospital in June this year, we collected information from health professionals by conducting interviews, discussion groups and questionnaires with staff involved in implementing the new medication safety procedures. We observed drug dosage calculation training to understand its active ingredients, presented to Beira healthcare staff on the role of Health Psychology and the importance of behaviour in healthcare, and worked with our Ipswich partners to deliver training on antibiotic resistance.

Following data collection, we presented findings and recommendations based on health psychology to help the partners implement their excellent work. We were really pleased that health professionals in the partnership suggested our input to date has been valuable, as the Head of Nursing states,  ‘this is very good for all situations here (at the hospital) and is good that you made these observations as we are too busy to do this.’

This was an amazing and inspiring opportunity to develop our health psychology skills within a brilliant UK-African partnership. We are both incredibly grateful for this opportunity and particularly the invaluable help of our UK and Mozambican translators, as unfortunately our Portuguese still doesn’t stretch far beyond ‘Obrigado!’ We are now engaged in meetings on Skype and producing a report outlining our recommendations before a second planned visit in November to offer further help in changing staff practice.