LONG STORY, PLEASE READ THOUGH!
Hi all, so last Sunday, I managed to smash my collar bone into 3 collar bones whilst riding at BPW. It was the usual story, go big, or go home…….no! I went too high on a burm and my front wheel washed out! I knew I’d done it straight away, mainly by how the bones could be heard and felt moving around.
Fortunately, my friend Jon was just behind to help slow fellow riders and warn them of the obstacle lay on the trail! Once I was out the way, he attempted to call the centre several times without success. So we walked up the trail and I was able to get one of the uplift drivers to drop me down. On the journey down he spoke of how there are around 10 people brought down off the hill on a weekend and how the phone is very rarely answered. He was able to radio to someone to pick my up at the uplift pick up point. From there I was dropped to my van and told A and E was about 3 miles away!
Firstly, I’m pretty sure that what they should have done, was take me to the centre and ensure that I was ok and there was nothing more than just the collar bone. I’m not expecting a full medical check over, but basic first aid would suggest I sat for a while!?
Anyway, Jon loaded my van (after a pretty slow ride down!) and drove to the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil. On walking though the door of the Minor Injuries unit and presenting myself at the desk, i was welcomed with ”bike park wales?” and a smile.
When I was seen be the nurse, the usual medical discussions what along. It was clear that they were a little frustrated. I asked how often they had people in from BPW, she said upwards of ten over a weekend and how it has really stretched them. (We all know of how the NHS is stretched as it is!) She explained that she understood that BPW isn’t a large resort, but explained that unlike a ski resort that would have facilities to safely remove, transport and evaluate peoples medical needs,BPW had none of this and gave examples of how people had turned up with severe concussion, head injuries, brakes and on one occasion, a fractured neck!
Now this got me thinking, what can the mountain bike community do to help the hospital?
Here are a few of my ideas.
-each rider pay an additional £2 to ride which goes into a charity fund for the hospital
-start a crowdfunding thing
-justgiving
-sponsored something or other

Let me know of any ideas or thoughts or comments.
I want to do something, but not sure where to start.

That’s a fantastic idea Christof. I suggest that your first port of call would be an email or phone call to BPW’s general manager. I imgaine they could quite easily add on a voluntary £2 to every ticket with gift aid, like they do in many zoos and muesums.

Interesting. I was chatting with the guy who owns Black Mountains Cycle Centre last week and, asking him about he deals with liability and accidents, he mentioned BPW can be a bit hectic (I was cycling over to ride there later the same day). Some guy lost an eye recently and is going down the legal route, apparently.

Good idea to have some form of “resort insurance”. In French Ski resorts they have a system called Carte Neige, It covers you for transport off the mountain, either on or off piste. If you show your card to the pisteurs they will take the policy number and their costs will be met by the insurance – you have no further involvement.
I always tell my holiday insurers its insurance for a ski trip, and always buy Carte Neige when buying my lift pass.
You can never have enough insurance with this kind of activity, skiing or mountain biking.

I snapped my acl there in September, didn’t bother reporting to them, as I didn’t want to be a statistic, and stuck the two hour journey home before checking into the local minor injuries…

Good idea. I’d certainly pay the £2 extra.
We used their A&E services last time too.

Whilst the suggestion is meant well, I’m not sure BPW or its customers are under any obligation to subsidize the local A&E any more than anyone else.

Ten casualties over a weekend will make up a tiny fraction of A&E admissions.

Should motorcyclists/rugby players/heroin addicts/people who like to stick unusual things up their bottoms also be called upon to pay £2 per activity in case their risky hobbies land them in A&E?

It’s the thin end of a “bloody cyclists clogging up our cubicles” wedge 😉

Maybe a donation to Air Ambulance would be more appropriate

Say you did raise some money. What then? It’s not like they could use it to hire extra staff to help with the workload. Maybe instead just pop back the next day with some flowers/chocs/etc to show your appreciation.

It may not help in terms of staff, but if the mtb community did do a just giving thing, I think it would just show appreciation. Often the gesture is worth a lot more to them than the money.

hebdencyclist

No, i not saying that everyone should put £2 in to a pot for what ever activity you enjoy doing, (your weekends appear quite interesting, but thats another forum entirely! :wink:) but how much did you spend on that coffee at BPW or anywhere else for that matter. How much is your bike, helmet, shoes, bag pads etc etc cost?
I feel that £2 from 300 people riding riding on the weekend will really help!

zilog6128

No, maybe they won’t be able to bring more staff in, but they can put it towards staff, equipment, training, maintenance, the list goes on! If it helps, it helps!

Keep the ideas coming guys!

hebdencyclist

Thanks for your help! Not trying to force anyone to pay anything, just trying to ease pressures on an already stretched NHS and do something nice.

I know one or two of the staff at PCH and they say they’d much rather deal with 10 injured bikers from BPW than 1 of the drunks from town on a weekend!
Riders tend to listen and behave as they want to get back on their bikes ASAP whereas the local drunks just terrorise the place for hours.
They also currently have a medical trainee who went there specifically to deal with the bikers as she’s training in sports injuries.

If you do get to visit A&E for whatever reason, drop in some choccies/beers/flowers afterwards, they really appreciate it. As nickjb says, a collection pot for the Air Ambulance might be better.

If people have appreciated the service of the NHS whether due to a cycling injury or not, then of course a donation or a gift to the staff is a kind and generous gesture.

I don’t think BPW as a business would want an A&E or Air Ambulance collection tin on the counter, due to the implication that their customers will be needing those services 🙂

But I could be wrong. Ask them!

Am I the only one thinking this thread was going to be a call for BPW to improve their handling of the guaranteed accidents and injuries sustained on their premises. Surely they are legally obliged to record accident on a commercial premises? Medical training for their staff? Surely that would be most useful.

Paying extra to fund the black hole of the NHS may sound nice but will do nothing to change the number of accidents or how BPW deal with them.

If I paid and didn’t fall off Id be wasting my money.

Perhaps those who are concerned should take out private insurance. Similar to what we do when we go to the Alps.