A team of doctors, nurses, admin and portering staff will be getting on their bikes in the hope of raising £10,000 towards the development of a new children’s major trauma unit and emergency department at Southampton General Hospital.

The ‘Tour de Wessex’ ride will begin at Southampton General Hospital during its open day on September 9, and will cover a 350-mile loop around the hospitals of the Wessex region over four days.

The event is also celebrating the milestone of 50 years since the birth of emergency medicine as a speciality.

The ride is being organised by Steve Black, a speciality doctor in emergency medicine at Southampton General Hospital.

As well as raising vital funds for the hospital, the ride will mark a significant milestone in Steve’s own recovery from a traffic accident, which threw his future as a speciality doctor into question.

He explains: “I was a trainee in Emergency Medicine in 2010 on my way to work in Portsmouth Emergency Department when I was knocked from my motorcycle, shattering my knee and requiring a four-hour operation to fix it. I also injured my back.

“I was taken to the Southampton emergency department and given pain relief, had X-rays and a CT scan.”

Steve was off work, unable to put weight through his leg for eight months, which was followed by a month to rehabilitate and try to get back to work.

A father of three, now aged 12, 10 and eight, Steve used a wheelchair to take his eldest child to school every morning.

“I was not sure whether I would ever be able to return to my chosen speciality, but with determination, and the understanding of both Portsmouth and Southampton Emergency department teams, I was welcomed back,” he says.

He adds that his children have all also visited the emergency department at Southampton General Hospital at some point in their lives.

A keen cyclist, Steve wanted to help raise funds for the children’s major trauma unit and emergency department appeal and came up with the so called Tour de Wessex.

As previously reported by the Daily Echo, construction has already started on the new £4.8 million unit which is set to open in 2018.

You can sponsor the Tour de Wessex team by visiting their fundraising page on Just Giving.