A walk-in fishermen's clinic saved Tom from sepsis - and could transform the NHS
Tom Parker was working alone three miles (4.8km) off the Devon coast when his fishing boat hit a wave and lurched to one side.
He didn't know it at the time, but Tom, 37, had broken his fibula and badly damaged his ankle ligaments. He somehow hauled in his fishing gear and made it to hospital to get patched up, but months after the accident his wound just wouldn't heal properly.
It was only after he turned up at an innovative clinic on the quayside in Brixham that he was put on strong antibiotics and told he needed a second operation.
"Without that service, I would have probably ended up with my leg turning septic and I'm not too sure what would have happened after that," he says.
Under the 10 Year Health Plan, published last month, health officials said the NHS in England needed to undergo a radical shift, away from hospitals to community care, and away from treating sickness to preventing it in the first place.
Source: BBC News, 8 August 2025