18 December 2015 - 22 March 2016
In the first 6 months as your MP, I have tried to get across the 200 square miles of our constituency on a regular basis. Every week, and during recess, I visit schools, charities, businesses, councils, public services and constituents in their own homes. Unfortunately, my ankle and leg were in plaster and in a boot over the last few months so I had to slow down a little. I wanted to take the opportunity to share my experiences of the NHS and the difficulties in getting around with a physical impairment.
The Injury
As a 42 year old, it is questionable if I should be playing football but I have always done so and I love it. Unfortunately, during a game with MPs across the chamber, I experienced a large popping sound and some pain. I originally thought that this was contact with someone but realised that no one was near me. I foolishly carried on in goal for the last 10 minutes but then found I needed a cab to get back to Parliament (with a good chaperone in the Labour MP, Stephen Kinnock).
Off to Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is across the river from Parliament so I went to A&E. The team were magnificent and gave me an ultra-sound scan and some tests. Their initial diagnosis was a calf-muscle tear rather than the same injury to my achilles. The following day, they called and asked if I could take an MRI at Guy's Hospital because they were still debating which tear it was. The MRI results confirmed that it was an achilles rupture. I returned to St Thomas' the following week, having been using a large protective boot and crutches for a week, and met with a consultant. There still being some debate about the point where the rupture had occurred, I had a further ultra-sound scan and the tear was located.
Prognosis
My consultant was able to confirm that my achilles rupture should not need an operation but would require me to be in a cast for a month, followed by over two months in the large protective boot with crutches, followed by a further 3 months of physio to strengthen the achilles back to normal. To combat the risk of deep-vein thrombosis, I have to inject myself daily in to my stomach. During this 6 months of rehabilitation I will be restricted from driving and other activities which I have always taken for granted. I was immediately put in a cast and hopped off across the bridge to vote in Parliament. Having had the plaster removed in January, I was back in the protective boot and on crutches.
NHS Experience
I have been fortunate in that I have never really had any hospital treatment up to now. I have always felt immense pride of our NHS and my recent experience has only strengthened my pride. The NHS staff, from clinicians and physios to those on reception, were absolutely first class and could not have been kinder or more understanding. I am immensely grateful and it strengthens my resolve to do whatever I can for this great institution. We are lucky to have it and should always seek to praise rather than criticise. I am also well aware that some of the patients come with challenging social difficulties. I witnessed this first hand when speaking to many of the patients who were waiting alongside me. NHS staff should not have to put up with some of the reactions which patients put before them. That they do so is both depressing and a testimony to their own professionalism. We must do more to help them. I am hugely grateful to all those who helped me at St Thomas' and Guys'.
Physical Incapacity
I have had to push my weekend night on an A&E shift back as well as many other constituency engagements. The biggest obstacle I have found is getting from my daily train at London Bridge, via tube, to my office in Parliament. The lifts are never where you need them, if they exist at all. We only get 8 minutes to vote but my office is a half mile walk to the voting chamber. During my journey, I have numerous sets of steep concrete steps to navigate with crutches and no lift at all. I was fortunate that my whips and the officials from Parliament moved me temporarily to an office nearer to the chamber. The tube and the train tends to be packed and many travellers are in their own iPod world and do not see me when knocking past. Pavements tend to have obstacles in their way. When I visited the De La Warr for its 80th Birthday, the lack of parking enforcement in Bexhill was even more obvious to me than normal. My last proper outing on the crutches was a 2 mile walk across Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, in aid of the veterans' charity 'Walking for the Wounded'. Now this really is a group with a membership who are an inspiration to us all about how to live with a disability.
Out of the Boot and Off with the Crutches
On Tuesday 22 March, I was given the all-clear by St Thomas' Hospital to discard the boot and crutches and to start walking again. There will now follow a large expedition where I find all of my left-hand shoes (having not been given an outing for over 3 months). Today I met with my physio today to go through the next few months of rehabilitation. Physios are fantastic in what they do. If the medics repair us then the physios ultimately fix us.
Conclusion
Whilst this injury has been a limited impediment to many things I do, it has given me a valuable insight into the NHS, as a patient, and an insight in to what it is like to have a physical disability with the daily challenges and frustrations which this brings. I am a believer in looking at the positives from every experience and I will use my own to campaign for the NHS and for those who are not able to move around as well as I could a couple of weeks ago. Now that I am back on my own two feet, I hope to be skipping about the constituency as opposed to hopping. I am grateful for the kindness and understanding which colleagues and constituents have shown me. It has been a real eye-opener and my thoughts will always be with those who live with a disability and do so much to overcome it in order to lead normal lives (in the workplace and at home).