SIX members of staff from Poole Hospital have travelled to South Sudan to pass on their medical expertise.

The idea was for medical and nursing teams from Dorset to head over to the war-torn area of Wau, from November 2 to 16, bringing with them surplus or donated medical equipment to help improve healthcare in the area.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Antoinette McAulay, deputy charge nurse for the emergency department Bruce Hopkins, nurse Hilary Fenton-Harris, consultant physician Dr Prem Fade, midwife Sally Loven and deputy sister of paediatrics Ally Ahvee made up the group.

Another person who has previously been on the trip, which can be held several times per year, is Dr Frankie Dormon, consultant anaesthetist at Poole Hospital.

She says that the visits to Wau are something she is very passionate about.

She said: “I don’t think people realise how bad things are in South Sudan.

“For example, out of every 100,000 women who give birth each year, 2,000 of those will die during labour.

“What we do when we go out there is teach people and show them how to look after their patients. However, what we don’t want to do is to go out there, make big changes and tell the people what they are doing is wrong.

“Our big excitement at the moment is that we have got a solar fridge for the local hospital to use, to keep their medicines in, to keep things like insulin in.

“We have been working with Poole Deanery, who are linked with Wau, on building a church house out there.

“It would mean that the hospital staff would have somewhere to stay when they go out to visit, and we can build a community.

“A lot of progress is made between visits and we’ve still got some real work to do out there, but it is all about empowering them.”