The SCALE Critical Care Project is a health workforce capacity development initiative between the Ministry of Health, Uganda and the NHS in the UK.
SCALE Critical Care is a collaborative project developing critical care services in Uganda. It is supported by the Ministry of Health, Uganda, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, the Association of Anaesthesiologists, Uganda, the Uganda UK Health Alliance, the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Health Education England, University of Cambridge and Cambridge Global Health Partnerships.
The project was established to build the skills and knowledge of Ugandan and UK critical care health providers through peer-to-peer learning and exchange.
Why the project is needed
Access to critical care is a vital part of healthcare systems. Low- and middle-income countries face a high amount of critical illness and premature death, but the capacity to provide care for critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs) is very low.
The COVID 19 pandemic stretched the existing critical care capacity, leaving thousands of severely ill patients with limited access. Uganda had severe shortage of functional intensive care units, with only 55 ICU beds across the country (1.3 ICU beds per million population) (Atumanya et al, 2020). Since the COVID 19 pandemic, Uganda’s health sector has made significant investments in increasing the number of ICU beds and expanding critical care services to 14 regional referral hospitals.
Now the country needs to build up the healthcare workforce to be able to effectively staff and deliver critical care in the newly equipped facilities and make sure more people access the care they need.
The project
Through remote and in-person reciprocal learning, training and teaching, the SCALE Critical Care project is increasing human resource capacity to deliver intensive care at a hospital level, as well as driving health system improvement. The programme is also creating opportunities for virtual learning and global placements for both UK and Ugandan healthcare workers to learn from different clinical environments.
The overall goal of the programme is to increase critical care capacity through workforce development between Uganda and the UK.
Specific objectives
- To develop distance learning in critical care between training institutions in Uganda and the UK.
- To enable Ugandan health workers to benefit from the Medical Training Initiative (MTI) scheme and other training and scholarship pathways in the UK for critical care.
- To offer global placement opportunities for UK professionals to support critical care training, practice and research in Uganda.
“It was a really intense week and although it was incredibly hard work I’ve returned feeling really relaxed and rejuvenated and ready to start teaching on the wards again. Having the opportunity to teach in a different environment, observe different people and ways of working was really inspiring. It was an amazing experience and I would love to do it again.”
Gayle Brunskill, CUH Practice Development Nurse Critical Care, reflecting on a visit to Kampala to deliver training for nurses.
Interested in getting involved?
We are looking for new volunteers to join the SCALE partnership.
- Do you have knowledge and expertise in critical care?
- Have an interest in global health?
- Interested in bi-directional sharing and learning with healthcare workers in low- and middle-income settings?
- Keen to volunteer? Much of our work takes places virtually and international travel may take place.
Head to our becoming a member or becoming a partner pages to see how to get involved.
