Autumn 2008 - Homerton University Hospital

SPOTLIGHT ON THE OLYMPICSThe countdown beginsThe clock has started ticking down towardsthe launch of the London Olympics in 2012.life will keep you up to date on howHomerton is preparing itself for thegreat event. But first we look back tothe Beijing Olympics… A&E ConsultantLaurence Gant reflects on lessons learntand experiences gained during his factfinding trip to China…I was one of tens of thousands of people todescend on Beijing for the 29th Olympiad.But unlike my fellow travellers from allaround the world, I wasn’t to see any eventsduring my two week stay (although I didmanage an hour of tennis, 30 minutes ofboxing and a similar amount of time forbeach volley ball – the men’s event! Norwould I see any gold medals being handedout to athletes, cyclists, rowers or swimmers.My job, as the head of a team of cliniciansassigned by the London OlympicOrganising Committee, was to glean asmuch as we could about how to care forthe many thousands of people whosuddenly turn up to stay for a fortnight.We would be watching the behind thescenes arrangements made by clinicalcolleagues in Beijing being put into action.Much of our attention was focused on theSino-Japanese Friendship Hospital which wasplaying the role of main Olympics Hospital, arole that will fall to Homerton in 2012. Wespoke to clinicians and patients at thehospital and found, as expected , thatduring the week pressure on the hospitalwas no greater than normal.Much of the activity went on at the venuesthemselves and we visited the polyclinic atthe Olympics village and met the staff whowere caring for the needs of over 15,000athletes. We also visited the medical facilityat the press centre – you have to be mindfulthat there were 20,000 plus journalists atthe games and not all of them are fit andhealthy former sports people.The main message which comes acrossfrom our observations was that thoroughpreparations across all health care facilitiesis crucial to dealing with such largenumbers of people. But that thesepreparations ensure that the caseload forany one facility never becomesoverwhelming.Medical Director, John Coakley said: “Plansare already being drawn up to improve andincrease local service provision to ensurewe are not swamped by the influx ofvisitors.“Clinics will be set up at the OlympicVillage, sporting venues and hotels wherethe competitors are staying and a polyclinicwith other diagnostic services usually foundin a hospital, will be set up to provide careto people attending the games – and toremain as a legacy to the local communityafterwards.”We considerthis a tremendousopportunity to putsport and sportingactivity very muchin the minds of ourlocal people, whereobesity isan issue.John CoakleyMedical DirectorHomertonlife 2008 9