ITV Granada has visited Aintree University Hospital's Major Trauma Centre to showcase the specialist care provided to patients who sustain life-changing injuries following e-bike accidents, either from riding e-bikes or pedestrians who have been struck by e-bikes travelling at speed.
The report forms part of a special ITV Granada series exploring the rise in e-bike incidents across the region and the impact they can have on patients, families and healthcare services.
As part of the report, ITV Granada met patient Drew, who was treated at Aintree after an e-bike accident left him with a bleed on the brain, a broken hand, broken collarbone and a fractured spine.
The programme also features interviews with Helene Stevenson, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, and Dr Libby Ensor, Emergency Medicine Consultant, who discuss the increase in e-bike related injuries they are seeing.
Dr Ensor said: “It’s a huge problem and they are quite quiet, so you often can’t hear them. We get people - particularly elderly people or people who aren’t that mobile - who can’t get out of the way in time.”
Speaking about e-bike users who don’t wear helmets, she added: “Perhaps it’s not cool to wear a helmet, but it’s not cool to be in a spinal injuries hospital for months on end with a significant brain injury. I think people don’t realise the consequences of an injury from an e-bike until it happens to them or someone they know.”
Aintree's Major Trauma Centre is one of 12 major trauma centres in England and provides expert care for seriously injured patients from across the North West. The centre delivers around-the-clock care for people with some of the most severe and complex injuries.
The ITV Granada report offers a behind-the-scenes look at the work of the Major Trauma Centre and the difference it makes to patients like Drew following serious accidents.