Casualty staff are giving a yachtsman a crash course in surgery in preparation for his solo voyage around the world.

Father-of-two Adrian Flanagan, 44, of Lugershall, near Bicester, has been given medical supplies from the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, for his journey across the globe, to raise cash for the Oxford Children's Hospital Campaign.

Emergency department consultant David Skinner and his team have also pledged to offer on-call help during the trip.

Yesterday, Mr Flanagan visited the JR to pick up a hi-tech first aid kit and learn how to stitch-up cuts.

He said: "My medical kit will be very important. If I get injured I can't go anywhere and there'll be no-one to help me.

"The equipment I need is more sophisticated than normal. I need quick remedy stuff, like skin glue.

"If I break my arm I'll have to set it myself. If I get an abscess in my mouth, I'll have to pull out my own teeth, and if I get a bad laceration I'll have to stitch it up.

"As I'm raising money for the children's hospital it seemed obvious to ask the JR for help. It makes me feel much better knowing they'll be on the end of a satellite phone."

Mr Flanagan is planning to sail 35,000 miles on the expedition, starting from Southampton. His voyage will then take him south across the Atlantic, towards the Falkland Islands and west around Cape Horn.

He will then head north across the Pacific towards the Bering Strait, before a westward passage through the Arctic leads to the final stage, when he rounds Scandinavia and sails south via the North Sea.

He was due to set sail on Tuesday, October 18, but has put back the launch 10 days while he awaits delivery of a shark-proof liferaft.

If he succeeds, he will be the first person to circumnavigate the globe via that route single-handedly and without stopping.

Mr Flanagan, an osteopath, said: "Prevention is better than cure, and as with everything else, I'm planning for nothing to go wrong.

"But however good or bad a yachtsman I am, the weather could turn so bad that something happens. There will also be periods when I will not be able to sleep and I'll suffer severe fatigue. That's when you can lose concentration and get injured."

Mr Skinner said the kit contained dressings, a suture kit and skin glue, splints and wrist cuffs, and a range of drugs. He said: "We've also given him general advice.

"Often, it's all very well being issued with kit, but Mr Flanagan may fall ill and not know quite what the trouble is and I'm more than willing to be on-call to give advice."

You can read more about his trip at www.alphaglobalex.com