About Us

Introduction
Specific Objectives
Activities to date
Proposed activities
The Trustees

Introduction

The Ipswich Hospital	Central Hospital Beira	Catholic University of Mozambique

The Ipswich-Beira Charity was established to support a twinning arrangement between the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and the new Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University ( which started in 2000) and the Central Hospital Beira.

An exploratory visit to Beira (March 2003) was made by a multidisciplinary team from Ipswich including three consultants, a senior medical technician and nurse and an advisor from the Tropical Health Education Trust to observe practice within the hospital and community clinics and identify ways in which colleagues from Ipswich might be able to help. It was recognised that although the problem based learning course at the University was progressing very well there were areas which required support and with which colleagues from Ipswich could help including the supervision of quality of clinical skill development the continued supervision of a teaching outpatient clinic and filling some specialist gaps in the curriculum.

With regard to the hospital on which the curriculum depends it was noted that whilst all involved in care delivery in Beira recognise that standards needed to be improved but, faced with very heavy case-loads and limited resources, they were struggling to find ways to achieve this.

It was agreed that much could be achieved by a continuing education programme for all staff groups and the Directors of CHB welcomed any help that The Ipswich Hospital could give.

An accord was established between the Trust Board and staff of the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and the Directors of Beira Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University of Mozambique that there would be considerable gain from a twinning process of the respective units.

The main aims would be to support the training of students and to raise the quality of care in the Central Hospital, Beira to a standard appropriate for the training of students to a level which will meet the needs of the people of Mozambique.

A steering committee was set up and the charity The Ipswich-Beira Health Initiative established.

Specific Objectives

1. To advance the education of medical students at the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM) Medical School in Beira, Mozambique, in such ways as the trustees, in partnership with colleagues in Beira, shall determine from time to time including:
   
   ■ Provision of seminars, tutorials, and lectures to the students in areas of the curriculum for which the Faculty of UCM requires additional expertise.
   
   ■ Assistance and advice to the Faculty of UCM with regard to the development of the curriculum and in particular to the delivery of clinical skill training.
   
   
2. To advance education and training of staff at the Central Hospital and Community clinics in Beira, Mozambique, in such ways as the trustees shall determine from time to time including:
   
   ■ Observation of clinical practice and discussion with colleagues to determine learning needs and help develop a programme of seminars to meet the needs of different staff groups.
   
   
3. The preservation and protection of good health by the provision of low maintenance and durable materials to improve the environment of clinical areas and improving standards of healthcare including refurbishment of clinical areas and donations of teaching aids.

Activities to date

• Provision of advice to the original steering committee which commissioned the new medical school in 2000.

• One consultant from Ipswich has subsequently been appointed as external professor of internal medicine in order to help ensure the quality of the curriculum. This has entailed regular visits since July 2000 to review the progress of the students, and to provide lectures and tutorials.

• Establishment (September 2003) and supervision of an outpatient clinic on the university campus for patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This clinic provides an environment for basic clinical skills training for the students as well as a facility for care of those suffering from diseases which are currently very poorly provided for in Mozambique. (The casemix has recently been increased to provide a wider experience for students in year four.)

• Provision of expertise in diagnosis of neurological diseases.

• Provision of a training course for two members of staff from the outpatient clinic team in Beira (one nurse and one technician) in non-communicable disease management at the Ipswich Hospital (July 2004).

• Meetings with medical and nursing staff to determine their future postgraduate training needs.

• Development of a combined Ipswich Beira team to deliver a regular programme of multidisciplinary training for those working in emergency care departments and ATLS training for students.

• Identification and donation of a number of books and other audiovisual materials as well as mannequins for emergency care teaching.

Proposed activities

• Supervision of the outpatient clinic until fully trained local staff are confident to undertake this themselves.

• Continued support for development of the post-graduate training  programme for staff of Central Hospital.

•  Delivery of  lectures and tutorials in the  diagnosis and management of  Neurological diseases.

•  Development of system of support and  continuing education for new graduates especially for those working in distant relatively unsupervised posts.
  
  
•  Part funding of additional faculty staff.

The Trustees

• David Norval , Chairman, Non Executive Director, Ipswich Hospital

• Dr John L Day, Consultant Physician  Emeritus, Ipswich Hospital

• Dr M Bamford, Consultant Paediatrician, Ipswich Hospital

• Mr Alan Cameron, Consultant Surgeon, Ipswich Hospital
  
  
• Dr Hadi Manji, Consultant Neurologist, Ipswich Hospital

• Dr David Lewis, Consultant Emergency Care, Ipswich Hospital

• Sister Annie Porter, Nursing Sister, Ipswich Hospital
  
  
• Mrs Rachel Sloane, Training and Media Consultant