NHS Grampian nurses travel to Malawi to help improve mental health care

Published: 19/08/2024 08:31
Two NHS Grampian nurses have travelled more than 5,200 miles on a “life changing experience” to help improve mental health care delivery in Africa.

Lorna Gordon and Lorna Milne teamed up with the Scotland Malawi Mental Health Education Project, to assist in improving care and safety for patients, by providing training on risk identification and management.
 
The duo travelled to the country’s largest inpatient mental health facility, in Zomba, and spent four days working with their African counterparts.
 
L to R, Lorna Milne and Lorna Gordon
L to R, Lorna Milne and Lorna Gordon

Ms Milne said: “Our Malawi colleagues came over here last year and saw how we worked and received some training and the charity then asked if we would go over there.

“We worked there for four days – after a long trip over. We were working with the staff, but also spoke to some patients.

“It was completely different to how we work at Royal Cornhill. I’ve 18 patients on my ward, Lorna has eight on her ward. In Malawi they had 76 patients in a ward.

“We found they didn’t work as a team in the same way we do. Their teams are set up differently from ours – they worked separately as registered nurses and healthcare support workers for instance. They have access to less medications and less selection, due to funding and supply issues.”

She said the pair undertook “a lot of the work” around risk management.

Mrs Gordon added: “We brought things over with us. A lot of puzzles, games, balloons, sweeties, biscuits, stress balls, footballs – things they can use at the hospital. They don’t have a lot at all.

“A lot of it comes down to funding. They have one state run inpatient unit for the whole of Malawi – so a lot of things are really stretched.

“We saw a lot of good things. We saw them include their patients in their ward rounds. We saw them using alternative therapies, including dance therapy, which we came away thinking a lot about.

“We actually joined in the dance therapy, the patients and the staff loved it. We might take that back to Cornhill.

“The areas we were able to impact the most were the team ethic and the culture – using the whole team to manage things.”

The pair also focused on the safety of their Malawi counterparts when interacting with patients.

Mrs Gordon added: “It was a life-changing experience. It was things we don’t see every day – it was nothing like being at Cornhill. It put a lot in perspective.”