A SCHEME which sees doctors from Oxford’s Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) travel to Africa to conduct training and research benefits not only the health services in the countries concerned, but also the professional development of the NHS staff, a study has found.

The 88 volunteers from Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust who have taken part in the training courses in sub-Saharan Africa were asked six months after their return to the UK to complete a questionnaire.

Most of those who responded said their overseas experience had improved their practice within the NHS.

The findings of the study ‘Is overseas volunteering beneficial to the NHS? The analysis of volunteers’ were recently published in BMJ Open.

One of the directors of the government funded scheme, known as the COSECSA Oxford Orthopaedic Link (COOL), scheme, Prof Chris Lavy, who first went to Malawi in 1996, said: “Over the years we have seen the advantages of this scheme on the health services of the host nations.

"There are an estimated five billion people in the world who can’t access safe, affordable, timely surgery, so sharing our expertise with colleagues in Africa has obvious benefits."

“But in this study, we wanted to see what the effect was on the professional development of NHS staff."

Around a third of consultants at the NOC in Oxford have taken part in the COOL programme