Teesside cyclist joins calls for more facilities to save NHS millions of pounds
Sport and health chiefs say cycling can reduce the risk of various conditions
A Teesside cyclist is joining calls for there to be more facilities to save the NHS millions of pounds.
It's so people get on their bikes to reduce the risk of various health conditions so it lowers the amount of GP appointments and A&E attendances.
Nick Leech is from Stockton Wheelers cycling club and he said: "I'm in my mid 60s and I came into cycling really late, until about five or six years ago. I found cycling because I used to run and it damaged my knees. It's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me as it's non-impact.
"I look forward to my cycling. I'm not the best cyclist out there but I go and cycle because I enjoy meeting people, I love seeing scenery and I'm really fit through cycling. I enjoy it and I feel better after I've been cycling than before I start.
"We're very welcoming to new members. You can come along for a ride with us and there's 10-20 of us but we have a policy that nobody gets left behind, so if we've gone into the distance and we realise someone's dragging behind, we stop and wait."
Find out more about Stockton Wheelers on their website.
Calls for investment
Sports and health chiefs are calling on the government to invest £30m in the 2nd phase of a groundbreaking scheme to get communities out cycling after data analysis reveals that the first phase has already saved the NHS over £13 million.
The initial Places to Ride programme - Britain’s largest ever investment in community cycling facilities - was launched in 2019 and helped to fund over 150 community cycling projects across the UK, bringing new cycling opportunities to over half a million people. And crucially, it helped support tens of thousands of people with long term health conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia and depression get outside, mix with others, and take exercise they wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Set against the growing use of Social Prescribing by GPs new independent analysis of the results of the first phase reveals that it resulted in savings of £13.1million to the NHS in England by reducing the risk of various health conditions as well as reducing GP appointments and A&E attendances.
Now, British Cycling, who run the Places to Ride programme, in partnership with Sport England and DCMS, are urging the government to double its investment with £30million in a 2nd phase to deliver over 250 new community-based facilities which they says will have a transformational impact on the health and well-being of the nation, particularly for marginalised groups.