In a significant moment for London, all four of the Major Trauma Centres which provide emergency healthcare for the city have called for the completion of fully protected cycle lanes, as proposed by the Mayor, Boris Johnson.
St George’s Trust, in South London today joined Barts & The Royal London, Kings College, Imperial College as well as the London Air Ambulance in publicly supporting the schemes running from East-West along the Embankment, and North-South via Blackfriars.
This signifies unity from London’s medical professionals about the need for greater protection for cycling, both for members of the public, and the huge numbers of NHS staff. Between them, these 4 trusts employ over 45,000 Londoners.
St. George’s Healthcare NHS Trust is the major tertiary hospital for south west London and Surrey and one of the UK’s largest teaching hospitals. It provides a high quality, comprehensive range of health services from leading edge tertiary and trauma care for 3.5 million people to local community services for the people of Wandsworth and has recently become home to Channel 4 ‘s ‘24hrs in A&E‘
In a public statement Miles Scott, Chief Executive of St George’s said
I am supporting the proposal to implement segregated cycle super-highways in London as this will be an important part of making cycling safer in our capital.
Many of our staff cycle to work and we encourage cycling as it is beneficial for health and the environment, but we must work to make it safer and thereby encourage more to do so. The proposed North-South cycle super-highway will enable people to cycle directly to St. George’s.
As one of London’s four major trauma centres, we see the serious and often life-threatening injuries caused by cycling on busy roads on a regular basis.
We are therefore committed to supporting any initiative that makes cycling safer. The proposed cycle super-highways will hopefully help reduce the number injuries people sustain whilst riding their bikes in the capital.
Miles Scott
Chief Executive
St. George’s Healthcare NHS Trust
CyclingWorks 