Fall star I’m on road to recovery

Former Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle says she is back in the saddle after a horrifying crash on TV show The Jump left her needing spinal surgery.

The 31-year-old, Britain’s most successful gymnast, had part of her hip removed to fuse two f ractured vertebrae in her neck after she crashed into a barrier when landing on the Channel 4 winter sports show in February.

Having at one point needed her parents’ help to walk down the hospital corridor, she said she has recently completed a 25-mile charity cycle ride, one of the goals she set herself on her return from Austria.

Tweddle said: “I enjoy cycling now, I’ve done the charity bike ride recently.

“It’s a bit of leisurely cycling, none of this fastpaced round the velodrome.”

Speaking about her recovery after the traumatic crash, she added: “I ’ m still working with my physio and doctors and psychologist.

“My family and friends have been really supportive.

“It’s still a difficult thing to talk about and it’s something I chose to keep quite private.”

Tweddle will be heading to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to commentate on the gymnastics for the BBC and she thinks this could the year for Britain’s first gold medal.

She said: “There’s so much medal potential within the British gymnastics team at the minute.”

The Scottish Government have announced that 1000 extra paramedics will be trained over the next five years to work in the Scottish Ambulance Service.

They will be trained up from the workforce of ambulance technicians in a scheme backed by £5million of taxpayers’ cash.

But insiders warn that new recruits brought in to replace them will have fewer skills than the existing technicians.

The new grade – known as a Level 3 Technician – will be unable to give even the most basic drugs or sit unsupervised with a patient.

The whistleblower said: “Put simply, the new Level 3 Technicians are drivers with first aid training.”

Critics warn senior crew members will be left to pick up the slack, increasing their already high stress levels.

Ambulance bosses say the recruitment drive is part of a strategy to tackle serious understaffing.

An insider said : “One thousand new paramedics sounds great but it’s not that straightforward.

“A paramedic is someone wh o can carry out interventions, such as inserting cannulas, and give drugs including morphine.

“An ambulance technician has more limited skills but are still classed as clinicians and can administer drugs.

“Once they are taken off the road for paramedic training, there are gaps for those roles . The service have initiated a new role of Level 3 Technician.

“Everyone who joined as of May will be at this new level to begin with. They have six weeks’ training, do driving training, then go on the road.

“At that stage, all they can do is minor observations – such as taking blood pressure readings – and drive the ambulance.

“They can set up an ECG