Council leader works from hospital bed

She broke her leg in a gardening accident

Leader of West Devon Borough Council Mandy Ewings has not let seven weeks in hospital with a broken leg stop her getting on with council business.

A busy time for local councils with local government reorganisation taking the main stage, Cllr Ewings (Ind, Tavistock South West) has been taking part into back to back meetings  remotely from her hospital bed.

She spent the first three weeks under the watch of the NHS in Kent where she had an operation after breaking her leg in a gardening accident at her mother’s home.

Four weeks ago she was brought back to Tavistock Hospital and will  be discharged on Friday with instructions not to to do too much.

“It’s been fantastic care and fantastic food here at Tavistock but I’m ready to go home now,” said Cllr Ewings. “A lot has happened including my granddaughter being born while I was being transferred from Kent to Tavistock in an ambulance.”

The fall from a ladder caused a tibial plateau fracture – a break on the top surface of the shinbone (tibia) that forms the knee joint.

The councillor said she was full of titanium after the operation which involved surgeons using plates and screws to stabilize the fracture and spinal operations in her neck and back ten years ago.

“When I fell off the ladder all I could think about was my old surgeon not being very happy with me,” she said.

“I can’t believe I fell off a ladder and being stuck in Kent away from my community has been frustrating.

“But I can say I haven’t missed a meeting in the last two weeks. We have got budgets coming up and all the local government reorganisation work has to be done as we have a deadline to submit proposals to the government in November.

“I think they will have to wheel me in a wheelchair to the council chamber but I’ll be back in person as soon as I can”.