Ukraine: Sheffield hospitals send medical supplies

Items sent to Ukraine from the UK would be "be close to the end of their use by date", hospital chief executive Kirsten Major said

Hospitals are sending medical supplies to treat people in Ukraine as fighting continues across the country.

Sheffield Hospitals said it was working to gather and donate equipment that would otherwise be wasted in the UK.

A call for supplies was issued by the World Health Organisation after oxygen stocks ran low in Ukraine.

Kirsten Major, chief executive at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, said the supplies sent would be at the end of their shelf-life.

"The Ukrainian embassy put out a call in terms of medical equipment," Ms Major said.

Her team did a "rapid piece of work" organising items to send out that would "be close to the end of their use-by date".

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Medical items were sent from hospitals in the city, including Sheffield Children's Hospital, to treat patients affected by the ongoing war.

"We have linked in with other hospitals to send [items] and it appears we've got an established supply chain to get those supplies into the country," she told BBC Radio Sheffield.

Thousands of items have been flown from the UK to Ukrainian hospitals, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid said.

Volunteers have been working at a donation and distribution center of medical supplies sent from across the work to Lviv

Staff at the hospital who are of Ukrainian or Russian backgrounds were also being supported during the conflict, Ms Major said.

A 24-hour helpline had been set up by the hospital to support staff affected in the UK.

"One of the things in terms of people of Russian heritage that I've spoken to is they're really concerned that people think that they support Putin and think what he's doing is right," Ms Major added.

"We're encouraging people to reach out and talk to them about how they feel and what they think about Russia and the state, because they feel very isolated at the moment."