Jordan Eggington – Monday 24th May 2021 – 10am.
Teamwork is essential within every role in the ambulance service, especially for our operational crews who work with various other frontline services on a daily basis. When a walker became injured in Staffordshire over the weekend, ambulance staff were able to locate and treat the patient with the assistance of the Mountain Rescue Team.
West Midlands Ambulance Service was called at 3:13pm on Saturday to reports a walker had fallen at Thors Cave in Leek. Due to the nature of the incident and the patient being in a hard-to-reach place, the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) was dispatched, along with two ambulances and two paramedic officers.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “On arrival, crews found the man who had fallen in a cave and injured himself while out walking. Whilst a plan was made on how to extricate him from the area, he was given pain relief on scene.
“At this point, volunteers from Derby Mountain Rescue Team arrived to help with his safe removal from the area. A pully system was set up to extricate the patient down from the scene so that crews could fully assess and treat the man in the back of their ambulance.
“He was then conveyed to Royal Stoke University Hospital for further treatment.”
Incidents in hard-to-reach places such as the countryside and mountains can sometimes make it hard for us to pinpoint a patient’s exact location. That’s where ‘what3words’ comes into its own. In ‘what3words’, the world has been divided up into three metre squares, with each square given a unique combination of three words. Having this app downloaded on your smartphone can help us and other emergency services pinpoint your exact location. For more information head here.
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