Sid Watkins Building at the Walton Centre

Image: © Richard Hoare Taken: 9 Feb 2017

At the invitation of the then F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone, Professor Sid Watkins expanded on safety improvements begun by motor racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart so that today, death at an F1 circuit has been all but eliminated. Professor Watkins has now been recognised by specialist neuroscience hospital The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, with the naming of the Sid Watkins Building. The new three-storey building which opened in January 2015, houses the Trust’s complex rehabilitation unit; pain management programme and medical training facilities; and Mersey Care’s brain injuries unit. Professor Sid Watkins who died in 2012, was an innovative surgeon who pioneered several frontiers in his specialty, including brain and spine stimulation, the surgery of pain and Parkinson's disease, as well as trauma. He was also fundamental to the development of the Royal London Hospital's helicopter emergency service and the first emergency brain scanning unit, both of which were subsequently mirrored at other major hospitals. In parallel with his prodigious medical career was his work in Formula 1 where he radically improved not only the safety of the sport but also established methods by which sport around the world tackles risk. He did so by working with individuals from various disciplines and by a sustained effort over several decades. He was a close friend of Ayton Senna.

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