Expert shares skills to help Ukraine's casualties of war

Dr Ceri Battle, a consultant physiotherapist in Morriston Hospital, Swansea, has carried out extensive research into blunt wall chest trauma. Now those skills are being used on the frontline in Ukraine

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Rescuers walk amid wreckage of cars after a deadly Russian ballistic missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, last week

AN EXPERT in managing chest injuries has shared her skills with physiotherapists treating frontline troops and civilian casualties in Ukraine.

After hosting virtual training sessions with physios in Ukraine, Dr Ceri Battle was invited to attend a conference in the city of Lviv to deliver two presentations and a hands-on skills masterclass.

Getting there meant a flight to Warsaw and a 10-hour bus journey, during which she met three other UK-based experts travelling to the conference.

Although Lviv is close to the Polish border and deemed relatively safe, the conference was held in a hotel basement, and delegates had to download a phone app that would sound an alert in the event of an air raid.

"I had really mixed emotions," said Dr Battle. "I was excited, but I knew I was going into a conflict zone. When I was flying into Poland, the airspace was closed because the Russians had gone in that morning."

Dr Battle has for many years been involved in research focusing on people sent home from emergency departments after chest injuries - which, while relatively minor, can lead to serious, even fatal complications.