Primary funder of the GSU visit Tamale and Accra with key highlights including discussions on the orchestration of the national hub network and key issues faced by the hub team

The UK based NIHR team were given the opportunity to travel to Ghana in May where they visited several locations within the national GSU network to view various operations taking place across both the hub team and wider spoke network. The first point of call took the team to Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) where the Deputy Director of Research (Dr Adam Atiku) was able to discuss how the hospital team were able to work in partnership with the Hub and collaborate with the NIHR in regard to achieving various objectives that benefited patients locally.

Following the hospital visit, the team were taken by Dr. Bellua Sam to the Ghana Hub Data Centre where he provided an overview of the centre’s setup and primary functions. The centre has received and trained other NIHR GSU hubs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Bellua Sam was able to demonstrate how this aspect of the organisation integrated research work from TTH and formed an integral part of the Department of Medical Research and Innovation at the Medical School. The Department has become a research–support centre for students, staff of the University for Development Studies, and staff of TTH.

For the final leg of the journey, the UK based group flew to Accra where they were able to join high-profile colleagues from the Ghana surgical arena during a roundtable discussion at the British High Commission, where various key issues facing the hub network were discussed as a collective. Colleagues from Ghana included Dr. Ijeoma Aja and Nurse Vera Agyekum-Gyimah from Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua Spoke as well as Dr. Ralph Armah (Spoke Lead) and Nurse Zelda Robertson (Research Nurse) from the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.

You can find out more on the Ghana Team by clicking here.