Victoria Hospital doctor joins 10-mile bike-ride for clean air

Sandy Robertson, a consultant at Victoria Hospital’s A&E department, joined around 30 local health workers on Saturday as part of the Tayside Ride For Their Lives event. He was joined by daughter Ada, who is seven, for the ride from Invergowrie to Monifieth, past Dundee’s V&A museum.

Sandy said: ‘I’ve been at the Victoria in Kirkcaldy since January and I love it. It’s a busy, friendly hospital, but we are on the frontline of how climate change is affecting our patients – when people are having asthma attacks due to bad air pollution, or if they have heatstroke.

‘Cycling is a good way to show all the benefits of action on climate change. While climate change is really scary, anything we can do to decarbonise society is a benefit for everyone. By cycling people will be healthier, they’ll be creating less pollution, and they won’t be heating up the world. It’s a win-win.

‘When I talk to people who don’t cycle much they say it’s because they’re scared of traffic. Without further investment in that it’s going to be hard to get people out and about.

Sandy, who lives in Edinburgh’s Trinitarea and commutes to work each day, added: ‘We make sure we car share whenever we can – and I try and arrange times when some of us can cycle to and from the train station. I think schemes like bikes on prescription would be a really good idea.’

Ada added: ‘I’ve been cycling since I was three, and I started on a balance bike. It feels fun to whizz down the road and get the breeze in your face. Sometimes I cycle to school, and sometimes to the beach.

‘I do think more people should cycle, it’s good for the planet and it makes me feel good.’

Ride for their Lives is an international movement of healthcare providers that inspires action on air pollution and the wider climate and nature crisis. Over 85 rides have been taken place across five continents since 2021.