Hospital emergency team on standby for Olympic Park World Taekwondo grand prix

Meet the emergency team at the London Independent Hospital in Stepney Green who are on official standby for the World Taekwondo grand prix and World Para Taekwondo championships.

They’re hoping that the athletes going through their paces at the Copper Box arena at East London’s Olympic Park over the weekend won’t get injured.

But the imaging team, trauma surgeons, theatre staff and physiotherapists are on hand just two miles down the Mile End Road from the Copper Box if they do.

“We’re on standby all the time for these tournaments,” the hospital’s director Sunny Chada said. “We cater for injuries from the minor through to major trauma, and just a few minutes away.”

Consultant trauma and upper limb specialist Ali Noorani carried out a surgical repair to a broken collar bone in one recent emergency from a sporting injury and discharged the injured champ within hours.

The hospital is well practiced at dealing with sporting trauma, as back-up for events such as hockey championships, boxing tournaments and Soccer Sixes football at London venues including the O2 arena and Lee Valley Park.

Part of the ‘rapid response’ kicks in through using smartphone apps where hospital staff on call receive an alert when there’s a medical emergency.