Found this article today on www.road.cc This is a really good cycling blog. I am pleased this has hade some news but at the same time, I'm amazed that this really isn't totally obvious! This is not rocket science people!
Dear reader, if you know my blog, this will read as the bleedin obvious as it did to me. However, it is always worth repeating, hence this short article.
"Cyclists and walkers five times less likely to die during operations
Study finds fitness more significant than age in predicting outcomes of surgery"
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has discovered that regardless of their age, patients who are fitter are less at risk of dying during and operation and recover a lot faster.
The report, published in the Annals of Surgery, makes the case that deaths after surgery can be as high as 22 per cent in patients with low levels of fitness, whereas patients who were fitter had only a four per cent mortality rate.
Ian Ritchie, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, told the Telegraph: “Our job as surgeons doesn’t begin and end in the operating theatre.
“Exercise clearly helps people stave off disease and live longer – and whenever appropriate, it should become an integral part of the surgical prescription as well.
"At the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh we are committed to improving standards through education and training.
“We believe this programme will improve patient outcomes, decrease costs and above all help reduce mortality by giving us healthier patients who can bounce back quicker after a surgical intervention.”
Jon Dearing, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and regional surgical advisor for the RCSEd said: “A simple 30 minutes of physical activity per day in the lead up to surgery not only can significantly reduce avoidable complications and mortality, but in some instances can even improve the chances of ‘borderline’ or unsuitable surgical candidates.
“We’re not talking necessarily about donning Lycra and getting sweaty at a gym – just straightforward measures such as walking or cycling instead of driving, taking the stairs instead of the lift and parking further away from the shops. Simple steps like this can improve surgical outcomes, aid the recovery process and even enhance the patient’s own psychological well-being as they get better faster. Most waiting times for surgery are around 12 weeks – this is plenty of time to work on increasing the likelihood of a successful operation.”
We previously reported how research conducted by an academic at the University of East Anglia (UEA) found that regular, daily exercise such as cycling and walking, along with giving up smoking – or not starting in the first place – are the most important steps people can take to improve their health.
While studies extolling the benefits of regular exercise are nothing new - this research, conducted by analysing the results of 40 separate studies conducted worldwide, does highlight is the range of conditions that an active lifestyle can help prevent.
Leslie Alford, a trained physiotherapist who lectures at UEA, identified 24 separate conditions, including dementia and cancer, that people could lessen the risk of contracting by undertaking regular exercise of as little as 30 minutes a day. He also says that it can also help the reduce the rate at which the body deteriorates with age.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Monday, July 21, 2014
And to conclude....GUILTY!...maybe
I've been hanging on to this post since February. Not knowing if I should post it or not. This month (it's now July) is 4 years since all this happened and so to mark the anniversary I've decided to put it out there. Why? Well because I still have no closure. The details below are non sensical as you will see.
So we are at the end of the three year clinical negligence period of torture. We have been down a mighty long road discovering how the legal system doesn't really work for anyone other than the rich. We have discovered how barristers aren't always confident in their performance and are about to discover how unorganised and bizarre the NHS can be... in a legal way rather than a medical way.
In July 2013 "protective proceedings" were issued allowing my solicitor an extra 3 months to attempt to squeeze something from this sorry case. As I'm constantly told, we cannot provide "clear and unambiguous" details of negligence so a game of poker and bluff calling was attempted.
And on 15 November 2013 it was all over as reported previously. HOWEVER on the 19 December I got another email from the solicitors office with the NHSLA making an offer of £5000 inclusive of costs. Take it or leave it. Because the case was backed by insurance for no win no fee, the insurers had to be informed of the offer. Because there was an actual monetary offer, the insurers count this as a "win" which means bills have to be paid from this sum...medical reports etc etc. We could have turned the offer down but then have had to pay the costs personally so we were pushed into a corner and give no real choice. We had to accept.
As I said to my solicitor, I'd never heard anything so daft in all my life! Surely this was a sign of guilt- why else make an offer!!!
Even the solicitors said this was crazy. To quote, "They knew perfectly well that limitation had expired and need not have done anything at all, much less make themselves out of pocket to the tune of £5000.00, no matter where it goes. I have no idea why they did it. It was completely unnecessary."
In 20 years of practising as a solicitor she had never come across anything like this...Typical- trust it to happen to me!
So, has medical negligence been proved? From the legal insurers point of view, any money obtained at any stage while the file is still open is a success.
I'd love to know the rationale behind the final offer. The only reason we haven't asked is to not bring attention to it just in case it was a mistake! Trouble is, I don't feel like there is any closure. How can I? I don't know why they put a cheque on the table and a paltry (considering the circumstances of the claim) one at that! And for the record, I saw hardly any of this 'offer'- once bills were paid, there was pretty much nothing left. Was justice proved?... you decide. I know what I think!
Monday, January 6, 2014
The Festive 500
"Rapha and Strava are challenging riders around the world to clock 500 kilometers between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve"
And despite the fact that the weather was APPALLING(!) I got a bit OCD about it... If I wasn't riding I was planning my next route. For those of you interested, ridewithgps.com is a great site for planning routes to upload to a Garmin. Because it was so windy, routes were sort of planned so I'd get the headwind on the way home. Great fun and riding on Christmas day with empty roads was a blast!
Interestingly on the Saturday just passed, I didn't go out on my bike- the weather was awful... yet during the Festive 500 I braved anything to get the miles in... yet on this day... I missed it! I got bored! I didn't know what to do with myself! CRAZY!
Dropped a bit of weight and strengthened my legs up considerably. It would be nice to be able to commit to that every day... even an hour every day. Not likely but I'll try for more hours in the saddle...promise!
The results came in today...
26,667 cyclists, globally, participated
collectively riding 7,616,045 kms
7,394 completed the challenge
of those I was ranked 4,540
Happy with that!
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