Normally at this time of year we send a small podiatry team to the Village to provide podiatry treatments. With lockdown and travel restrictions we were unable to do that. We have, however, looked for different ways of supporting the Village. We sponsored food parcels during the lockdown period in India when the Leprosy sufferers at the village were struggling to feed themselves. We have regular video calls that have included training/mentoring sessions and updates with the bandaging unit team.
One of our most important initiatives has been the introduction of Clinko software to manage bookings, monitor wound management plus the effectiveness of treatments. This what Hope Worldwide UK had to say about it in their January 2021 update:-
‘ From October of last year, the bandaging team started to use Cliniko, a healthcare software tool, to record progress in patients’ wounds over time. At the date of this email the team had registered 266 patients on the database and made 1519 appointments.
At each appointment, podiatrists are able to record the number of wounds presented by each patient, medical history, changes in the wound, and the method used to dress their wounds. The ‘Progress’ record is particularly helpful for recording and monitoring the healing process. The team would like to record SINBAD scores (used by the NHS) once practitioners receive further training. This would allow for more detailed monitoring of changes in wounds.
The bandaging team can also use Cliniko to create lists of patients with other health conditions, such as diabetes, using reference number filters.
Over the next three months, the bandaging team hope to begin logging photographs of patients’ wounds onto Cliniko. This will provide photographic evidence of the effect of wound treatment. This will also enable the practitioners in the UK to view the images online and then liaise with patients about their wound healing progress.’ HOPE worldwide UK
The nursing students from the village have been able to keep up their studies in the same way as students here in the UK via remote links. You can see some of their sessions plus other videos and updates about the Village on their Facebook page.
Here are some images from 2020 and 2019 visits.
