Boxing champion benefits from video sessions with Wrightington Hospital

Richard Riakporhe underwent surgery at WWL’s specialist orthopaedic centre, Wrightington Hospital, in January. He had injured his wrist in his last fight in December 2019 where he clinched the national cruiserweight title.

Like most patients Riakporhe still needed follow up consultation to help him on his road to recovery and through the web-based and secure Attend Anywhere virtual system, the boxer has not had to make the 400-plus mile round trip from London to see consultant Mike Hayton, which has allowed him more time to train.

The 30-year-old, who also holds the WBA Intercontinental cruiserweight belt, said: “For me video consultations for pre and postoperative care are the future.

“I felt the best move was to have my initial surgery at Wrightington Hospital despite living in London because of Mike’s amazing experience of helping athletes get back to full fitness and working with other boxers.”

He continued: “If the pandemic hadn’t have happened, I would likely have made the long trip with my physio for my follow-up consultations for what can often be short appointments.

“Now, with the virtual consultations; I’ve saved on travel costs, increased my time to train and allowed my consultants and physio to all be on the same call and see how my wrist is recovering.”

WWL was already piloting Attend Anywhere before the Covid-19 pandemic began and was rolled out further for patients when social distancing measures were introduced.

Since lockdown was introduced back in March, WWL has delivered around 4,000 consultations using the Attend Anywhere and plans are to grow this further with new services and users being added daily.

Mark Singleton, Acting Associate Director of IM&T added: “WWL has been trailing video consultation for the last 18 months with the advances in technology and rollout of super-fast broadband.

“Previously security, in particular, was seen as an issue and prevented more widespread adoption of ‘virtual or video’ clinics. The security issues have now been overcome and this has meant that we’ve been able to adopt video clinics more widely across many hospital and community services including musculo-skeletal and orthopaedics.”

Mike Hayton, Consultant Orthopaedic Hand and Wrist Surgeon Specialist, who has treated numerous athletes including former world champion boxers Amir Khan and Tony Bellew, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has been an enormously difficult, and for many people a tragic time – but looking to the future video consultations may be one of the good things to come out of this terrible time.

“We’ve been able to maintain contact with our patients and whilst this won’t always replace the need for face to face contact, for many patients, like Richard, it offers an excellent service from the comfort of their own home.

“Feedback on the service has been very positive across the Trust, with 96% of patients liking the service and wanting their future appointments to be virtual.”