British Foundation for International Reconstructive Surgery and Training (BFIRST) believes in collaborating with other organisations.
The world is too big and the needs are too endless for all the work to be done by one organisation. Everyone needs to work together to share resources and expertise.
Over the years, BFIRST has worked very closely with the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) in the area of hand surgery projects; this has resulted in the birth of new projects including Sudan, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
Even for those existing projects, new collaborations can be effectively forged as we look to the future in several countries.
Burns project: BFIRST continues to explore a close working relationship with the British Burns Association (BBA) and InterBurns.
BFIRST recognises the enormous contribution these societies have made to the care of burns in LMICs and how much we can learn from them.
We look forward to working closely, not just in the acute burns management, but also in secondary burn reconstruction.
Lower Limb injuries: BFIRST has formed new links with the outreach arm of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), World Orthopaedic Concern (WOC).
We can look forward to the future with excitement with the formation of new links and new projects.
Collaboration is key to sustainability. Plastic Surgery is a specialty that has survived and thrived by having links to several other specialties. Our boundaries overlap with several other specialities.
In the same way, BFIRST, as a plastic surgery charity, recognises that our doors must always be open to collaboration.