A team from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) are getting ready to visit to Rishikesh and Dehradun in northern India next week to support the delivery of healthcare and education.
They are part of the Uttarakhand-Cambridge Health Partnership (opens in a new tab) – an initiative supported by Cambridge Global Health Partnerships and Rama Foundation (opens in a new tab) – that aims to improve the care and management of palliative and cancer patients in socially and economically deprived communities.
The Cambridge team comprises nurses and Allied Health Professionals (opens in a new tab) (AHPs) including dietitians, a therapy radiographer and a speech and language therapist. These staff play a vital role in palliative care, for example by providing personalised nutritional plans and supporting physical function and mobility.
The team will work alongside Indian healthcare staff in Uttarakhand state’s largest teaching hospital, the Himalayan Hospital (opens in a new tab), a 1200-bed multi-specialty teaching hospital, and Ganga Prem Hospice (opens in a new tab), a 27-bed facility providing palliative and spiritual care. Together with their Indian colleagues, the Addenbrooke’s team will co-deliver face-to-face training, development and mentoring opportunities that will improve patient care and quality of life.
Therapy radiographer and team member Azelia Braganza said:
I’m looking forward to sharing knowledge from our practice in the UK, including developments in radiotherapy techniques and patient-centred care, and to be learning from the local professionals we’ll be working alongside
Azelia Braganza
Speech and language therapist Jenna Sendall added:
My aim for this trip is to learn and understand what Speech and Language Therapy looks like as a profession across various healthcare settings…With this knowledge, I hope to establish a two-way connection to share clinical knowledge, practice and experiences
Jenna Sendall
During the week-long visit the Addenbrooke’s team, who are all volunteers, will also support the Indian homecare team visiting patients in the community. This valuable learning opportunity will build knowledge that directly addresses one of the key objectives of the recently released Ten-Year Health Plan for England (opens in a new tab): shifting care from hospital to community.
Working in a low resource environment will also strengthen their resilience and resourcefulness, as well as improving their ability to work as a team, adapt and problem solve – all skills that they will bring back to their NHS practice.
Specialist resuscitation nurse and team member Dan Shortland said:
This exchange is not one-way. It’s about mutual respect, collaboration, and creating a platform for long-term partnership.
Dan Shortland
The Rama Foundation is a UK registered charity that works with its partners in India to improve the delivery of healthcare and develop palliative care facilities for socially and economically deprived communities. For the last 15 years, in collaboration with CUH staff and with the support of CGHP, this has included projects to improve nutritional management and to develop treatment protocols, as well as facilitating knowledge exchange and sharing best practice between Allied Health Professionals.
Cambridge Global Health Partnerships (CGHP) is a charitable organisation that facilitates health partnerships between institutions in Cambridge and the East of England and in global majority countries. By connecting people and encouraging knowledge exchange via two-way teaching, learning and training, they aim to strengthen healthcare systems and address some of the world’s biggest health challenges. These collaborative projects are beneficial for everyone involved, building capacity and capability in partner country health systems as well as in the NHS.
More about CGHP can be found at www.cambridgeghp.org (opens in a new tab)