Most NHS doctors are currently grappling with an unprecedented crisis that is hitting them from all angles.
But there is a team of medical professionals who volunteer their few spare hours for a cause they also care about – Ukraine.
Children who escaped the barbaric invasion of their homeland are being treated for their illnesses by doctors in Britain.
Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a pediatrician at University College London, founded the British-Ukrainian Refugee Children’s Hospital in September.
Professor Alastair Sutcliffe, a pediatrician at University College London, founded the British Ukrainian Refugee Children’s Clinic after hearing how difficult it was for refugees to be treated in Britain
Other volunteers are Dr. Sanjay Suri (right), a community pediatrician who works full-time at the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr. Jane Marshall (left) who normally works as a consultant pediatrician in North Yorkshire
Professor Sutcliffe said: “When I saw these children in these little hats last year, being yanked from their homes in the freezing cold, I felt sorry for them.”
So far it has about 50 children on its books, whose ailments range from thyroid problems to congenital heart defects. The young refugees, scattered across the UK, are seen in online consultations.
In an exclusive interview with Web, Professor Sutcliffe told how the idea of setting up the clinic came about last spring, after hearing how difficult it was for those fleeing Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion to receive treatment in Britain.
He said: “Last year when I saw these kids in these little hats being snatched from their homes in the freezing cold, I felt sorry for them.”
Professor Sutcliffe added: “These poor children only come with their clothes on their backs.
“They come with different packages of concerns. So every case is different.
“And every personal journey for this family is different from their place of origin in Ukraine.”
Speaking about the difficulties refugees faced, he pointed to an example of a child whose mother “didn’t understand” what her NHS number meant.
He revealed she had no idea her child would be entitled to free treatment like all refugees are.
“Some of the children miss their fathers,” he added. “Some of those I met were divorced mothers with children, others, their fathers are in Ukraine.
“Some have a certain level of trauma [from the war]. And of course they now face the challenge of having to learn English.”
More than 100,000 Ukrainians have fled to Britain since the country was occupied by Russian forces on February 24.
About a third of them are children.
In total, around 2 million under-18s have fled and traveled to countries such as Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. Others have made it as far as New Zealand and the Philippines.
Most fled across Ukraine’s western border early in the crisis.
Tens of thousands came to the UK under the government’s Ukrainian family programme.
The clinic is led by Professor Sutcliffe, who triages all patients himself, and Dr. Jane Hoddes, a consultant paediatrician who also works at the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital in North London.
Other volunteers are Dr. Sanjay Suri, a community pediatrician whose main job is with the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr. Jane Marshall who normally works as a consultant pediatrician in North Yorkshire.
Pictured: Ukrainian children at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, in March, after Putin first invaded
Pictured: A man holds a child as he flees the town of Irpin, west of Kyiv, March 7, 2022
The consultants include experts in pediatric gastroenterology, allergic diseases, cardiology, rheumatology and nephrology, allowing the clinic to cover a wide range of bases to help the children.
Ukrainian families can book a 30-minute consultation online, during which they will be examined by one of the general paediatricians.
They discuss any medical issues affecting them and decide on the best course of action, whether to contact a specialist or get help dealing with the NHS or get prescriptions.
Many children had pre-existing medical conditions or had been treated for medical conditions, with medical practices in their home countries often being very different from those in the UK.
Professor Sutcliffe said: “What I see is that there are clearly some aspects of the practice in Ukraine that would not be supported in the UK because frankly it is bad practice.
“So when I hear these things in the consultations that I’ve been doing, I kind of have to negotiate and navigate that this isn’t a good plan.”
He said dexamethasone – a steroid used to treat severe allergies and sometimes Covid – is widely abused in Ukraine for mild chest infections because it is sold over the counter.
In the UK it is sold by prescription only and requires a doctor’s attention when given to children as it can slow height growth if taken over a long period of time.
Kreon, another treatment, which is a pancreatic enzyme given to cystic fibrosis patients who develop problems with the organ, was also given to two children before he saw them – against standard medical practice.
“To my dismay, I was told that a pediatrician in private practice in Ukraine said, ‘Oh, he’s got digestive problems, we’re giving him this Creon,’ said Professor Sutcliffe. ‘That’s not right.’
Creon can cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate too high or too low, stomach pain, abnormal stool movements, vomiting and sore throat.
It should only be given to patients suffering from pancreatic problems and not for general digestive problems.
In such cases where a child has been prescribed potentially dangerous medications, the on-call doctor will switch the child’s treatment to a more appropriate treatment.
A child suffering from goiter – a swelling of the thyroid gland – has had vital treatment suspended for half a year because of difficulties accessing the UK healthcare system.
Pictured: Ukrainian refugees arrive March 28 by train from Berlin at Amsterdam Central Station
Pictured: Two young girls peer out from behind a barrier as they wait in line after being evacuated from neighboring Ukraine ahead of the war at the border crossing in Medyka, south-eastern Poland Tuesday April 29
He received annual scans in his home country to check swelling but was unable to get the same level of care in the UK.
The lumps aren’t usually serious, but should be checked out by a family doctor, especially if new symptoms appear, such as a persistent cough, hoarse voice, or wheezing.
Professor Sutcliffe said: “He was in Britain for an above-average [he] probably came at the very beginning of the crisis.
“And he’s had yearly scans in Ukraine just to make sure it didn’t turn cancerous, which is a rare but possible complication.
“He also had annual thyroid function tests and since he came to the UK that care has been … neglected.”
He contacted a doctor in the town near where the boy lived to arrange for a thyroid function test to be carried out immediately so that his treatment could be restarted before it was too late.
Professor Sutcliffe added: “If his thyroid is underactive for any reason, he’s going to be in trouble.”
As a volunteer organization, the clinic relies on doctors to devote their own time and is limited by the number of hours they can devote to treating patients.
Professor Sutcliffe said he doesn’t want it to become a practice that has long waiting lists or is unable to see children who need care quickly.
He hopes to attract more volunteers to the operation and get it officially registered with the Care Quality Commission, a government agency that regulates and controls health and social care services in England.
And in the long term, he wants to use the clinic as a model for other global volunteer programs to offer refugees from all over the world care from local experts.
He said: “The broader vision is that one day we will set up a clinic like this for many different countries.
The idea is that if there is a lot of goodwill in this profession, we could start a clinic or clinics that allow free access to a specialist worldwide.
“You could say it’s a test case to see if we can get this to work. The most important thing is that the doctors work for free.
“Because of that, the cost is pretty low.”