Scottish Health Awards – Exercise Campaign Work Nominated

RCSEd President Mr Ian Ritchie was nominated for The Scottish Health Awards 2015, the most prestigious and recognised awards ceremony for healthcare professionals within Scotland. Run by the Daily Record, in partnership with NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government the awards are now well established in the Scottish calendar.

Hosted by top comedian, Fred MacAulay, this year’s glittering awards ceremony took place on Wednesday 4 November, at The Corn Exchange, Edinburgh. The awards rewarded Scotland’s most dedicated and caring NHS workers.

Of the sixteen award categories, Mr Ritchie was nominated for the Healthier Lifestyle Award in recognition of his work on the College’s Exercise Campaign.

“I’m delighted to have been chosen as one of the three finalists for the Scottish Health Awards, ‘Healthier Lifestyle’  category. Physical activity for patients is extremely important and in some cases may prevent people needing surgery.
“This nomination is a result of great teamwork especially the input from Regional Surgical Advisor for the RCSEd, Mr Jon Dearing who led this campaign and Ann Gates at Exercise Works! She has been and continues to be a dynamic and enthusiastic evangelist for exercise as a treatment for patients.
“As a team, we all believe that health professionals should consider exercise as a ‘medicine’ in its own right, recommending and prescribing physical activity at all appropriate opportunities. As a preventative treatment physical activity should be recommended for many diseases as a first line treatment.”

Mr Jon Dearing, a member of Council at the FSEM, launched the College’s Exercise Campaign at the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine UK (FSEM) and British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (BASEM) joint conference in October 2014.

Click here to read the full news item on the Royal College of Surgeon’s of Edinburgh’s website.