The 21 Ukrainian children who were evacuated to England, are now all under the care of NHS specialist hospital services and are starting their package of cancer treatment.
Following their arrival on Sunday night, all children have received health assessments from NHS staff and have now been triaged to seven hospitals across England, getting the very best clinical support to meet each patient’s specific needs.
NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard has thanked NHS staff for their efforts to quickly and efficiently protect some of Ukraine’s youngest and most vulnerable young people, and welcomed the latest milestone in the families’ journey.
A team of NHS doctors, nurses and technicians from Southampton Children’s Hospital and Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust travelled to Poland at the weekend to provide the children and their families medical support as they flew out of the war-hit region.
Dr. Michael Griksaitis, Consultant Paediatric Intensivist at University Hospital Southampton, led the in-flight team and said he was overwhelmed by the ‘human tragedy’ on the ground in Ukraine as well as by the response from NHS colleagues. Dr. Martin English, a children’s cancer consultant, led the team from Birmingham who assessed the children and provided clinical advice on the most appropriate next steps for treatment.
