One of our Orthopaedic Registrars, Hannah Phillips, has been collecting used braces and splints to donate them to Ukraine and Gaza.

Braces and splints, which have been used by patients, are usually disposed of after a single use. Instead of seeing these items go to waste, Hannah found someone who would arrange for them to be cleaned and sent to Ukraine to help people who may be suffering from broken bones, sprains or fractures. She has been doing this since the beginning of the war.

More recently, she has also managed to find someone who will clean and send the equipment to Gaza, to help people there as well. Orthopaedic Healthcare Assistant, Sahlee Cantoja, and the rest of the orthopaedic outpatient team have been helping Hannah with her efforts by collecting and storing the items and helping to handover the equipment when it's time for collection. 

Hannah said: "I wanted to help because of a few reasons, I wanted to recycle these items and I wanted to help people I knew would be in need due to these conflicts."

Orthopaedic Sister, Jane Cash, said: "All of them really demonstrate compassionate care - they're extending this value beyond our Trust, and towards these countries and people in need. It's lovely that Hannah has seen something and wanted to help, she's spent a lot of her own time doing it and I'm so proud of her."