A DOCTOR is hoping to improve his own health and inspire patients to improve their fitness - by spending more time on his feet in the surgery.

Dr Jonathan Griffiths, who works at the Swanlow Medical Centre on Dene Drive, is putting a standing desk to the test.

A special device enables him to adjust the height of his computer desk so he can sit down or stand up to see patients.

"If they want to sit, I sit," said Dr Griffiths. "The desk goes up and down. It is led by the patient."

Research has shown that office workers who use sit-stand desks perform better, feel less tired and notice improvements in their backs, bones and joints.

Staying active reduces the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

In Denmark, any job that requires a worker to sit for more than two hours must provide a sit-stand desk. More than 90 per cent of office staff now use them.

In this country, it is common for many office employees to sit down for eight or nine hours a day.

"As a GP in a surgery we spend a long time sat down," said Dr Griffiths, who is also chairman of Vale Royal Clinical Commissioning Group. "I try to combat this by retrieving patients from the waiting room rather than using the call system.

"I try to be healthy and lead by example. I have lost weight and try to exercise.

"The benefits of keeping active and getting on my feet was the main driver for trialling the standing desk."

One patient with back pain, he said, opted to stand up and many others have followed suit.

"The process of having to sit down and stand up is what was painful for this patient," said Dr Griffiths. "When patients come in for a review of their medication it is much easier for us both to stand.

"The act of standing side by side with a patient reviewing their record is a powerful thing."

After just two weeks trial, he has already decided to keep the standing desk and says it has sparked a lot of interest.

"A lot of patients have commented on it," he said. "There was some consternation that patients might feel less welcome and that I'm not wanting to spend time with them because I'm standing up.

"It's a cultural thing to sit down for a chat but I always make it clear that whatever the patients wants I will do."