SMP member and Malawian collaborator win prestigious emergency medicine award

SMP member Dr Barry Klaassen of NHS Tayside Emergency Medicine Service has been awarded the prestigious William Rutherford International Award by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine together with his Malawian collaborator emergency room nurse Feggie Bodole.

William Rutherford was a pioneer of the specialty of emergency medicine whose dedication to service also took him to work as a doctor in rural India for 20 years.

The award is made annually to an individual that has demonstrated evidence of excellence in emergency care or humanitarian activities within low- and/or middle-income countries or settings.

Also recognised in the award is a collaborator from overseas who Barry has chosen to be Malawian emergency room nurse Feggie Bodole.

Feggie is the Chief Nurse Specialist Manager for the Adult Emergency and Trauma Centre (AETC) at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.

Barry said: “I am honoured and humbled by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine making this award. It reflects the outstanding work of the entire NHS Tayside project team I lead.”

The award will be made RCEM’s annual scientific conference in the autumn which this year inOctober.