Expanding our horizons with a visit from the High Commissioner for Rwanda to the UK
It was wonderful to this week welcome Her Excellency Yamina Karitanyi, High Commissioner for Rwanda to the UK, to The Royal London Hospital.
The room was packed with staff from across the hospital to hear Her Excellency speak on the recovery of Rwanda, the importance of personal resilience and setting a clear vision.
The visit on 12th December was the first in a series of talks from people outside of the NHS aimed at helping us to expand our horizons.
The events are led by John Middleton, Deputy Divisional Manager for Surgery, Peri-operative Medicine and Critical Care at The Royal London, who explained: "It's easy to be all consumed by the busyness of the NHS and our hospital that we don't always look outside of it. There's a lot we can learn from the efforts of others in non-healthcare roles nationally and internationally that can influence improvements in how we care for our patients. Join us over the next year to hear from a series of inspirational speakers."
Her Excellency Yamina Karitanyi has worked extensively across the private and public sector. She shared her very personal views on the importance of being positive in the face of adversity. Since the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda which saw over 1 million of its citizens killed in just 100 days, Rwanda has risen to be a global leader in inclusion, gender equality, governance and built its economy with a clear vision to be a middle-income country by 2020. The population continues to grow, and tourism is booming.
In her speech, Her Excellency described how Rwanda shares with the world the possibility to move forwards from a crisis. She encouraged others to have courage to see beyond the crisis and invest in opportunities, guided by strong leadership that builds unity “so everyone has a chance to feed into the journey”.
The visit also saw Her Excellency tour the Emergency Department to see in action the many ways we care for patients, including ambulatory and enhanced care and the 15 minute ambulance handover.