Whitefield

Whilst providing Standby Rescue Cover today for the Prestwich Challenge Sunday Event, at 12.40hrs, and unconnected completely with the event, Event Organiser Glenn Martin was made aware by one of his marshal teams, of an incident involving a mountain biker near to the Prestwich Challenge route.

Glenn immediately contacted our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, at our Control Point, and the crew of our Land Rover Defender Mountain Rescue ambulance, call sign Bolton Mobile 1, who were nearby, were tasked with providing immediate assistance.

Arriving at the casualty site at 12.55hrs, they found a 43 year old female mountain biker (From Little Lever, Bolton) with suspected head, back and elbow injuries.

She had been riding in the company of her partner and her brother, both of whom rendered immediate care.

She was treated by the four team members present, Ged Clarke, Dave Cook, Nigel Booth and John Dickinson, being treated with pain killing gas and drugs, and splinted with neck collar, head blocks, placed on a long board and then on to a SAR Alpine Lite Mountain Rescue Stretcher.

She was then placed in to the rear of the Land Rover, which departed the incident site within Prestwich Forest Park at 13.25hrs.

At 13.40hrs she was transferred to an NWAS Emergency Ambulance at Sedgeley Park RUFC (our standby rescue cover RVP and Prestwich Challenge Event Start and Finish) for further evaluation and treatment, which departed at 14.00hrs for North Manchester Hospital.

Team Trainee member Steve James then travelled to North Manchester Hospital to retrieve all our equipment items, where it was established the woman had sustained a C Spine Injury.

Four team members were directly involved in this incident on scene, with others providing traffic flow assistance / marshalling within the narrow roads and tracks of Prestwich Forest Park, and co-ordinating duties with NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) Parkway EOC.

The NWAS Emergency Ambulance and Paramedic / EMT crew came from Heywood Ambulance Station.

At 13.55hrs this warm and sunny May Day Holiday we were paged by NWAS (Manchester) EOC regards an incident at Philips Park, Prestwich.

The call was answered by our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, who liaised with NWAS EOC to obtain further details before paging a full team Call Out at 14.05hrs.

A mountain biker in the company of six others had fallen in Philips Park, Prestwich, sustaining suspected serious injuries.

Four team Land Rovers were mobilised, joining NWAS and NWAA Air Ambulance responding resources.

Our first Team member, Alan James, arrived at the main car park RVP to Philips Park, at 14.10hrs, and immediately went to the casualty site to liaise with the attending NWAS RRV and Emergency Ambulance crew.

The NWAA helicopter landed soon after, in fields immediately next to the car park and play area to Philips Park Hall.
By 14.24hrs five team members were on scene, including our Team Leader.

Casualty care was being carried out by the NWAS crews and the Helimed crew, when at 14.31hrs the first of our four responding Land Rovers arrived on scene at the RVP.

The casualty, a 47 years old man from Atherton, had fallen from his mountain bike, we understand whilst on the Mountain Bike Red Trail in the woodland of Philips Park.

He was treated for a suspected fractured jaw, head, right shoulder and clavicle injuries, and bruising to the chest.

Drugs were administered on scene by NWAS and NWAA personnel, with the man being placed on to a Scoop stretcher, which in turn was then placed on to our SAR Alpine Lite MR Stretcher, for a stretcher evacuation back to the RVP.

Arriving here at 14.49hrs, it was decided to take the injured man to Salford Hope Hospital by NWAS Emergency Ambulance, which departed within minutes, followed at 15.04hrs by the departure of the NWAA Helimed 72.

Our last personnel left the car park RVP at 15.25hrs.

The following resources were involved in this incident;

• NWAS (Manchester) EOC Parkway.
• NWAS (Manchester) RRV – Rapid Response Vehicle, solo crewed by a Paramedic, from Bury Ambulance Station.
• NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance, two crew, (Paramedic and EMT) from Swinton Ambulance Station.
• North West Air Ambulance Helimed 72, from City Airport Manchester (Barton) Crew consisted of Pilot / Captain, Paramedic, Doctor and one additional crew member to those normally on board, a Nurse from Wythenshawe Hospital, who was ‘observing’ for the day.
• Bolton Mountain Rescue Team; Four Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances responded, alongside twenty two team members, with one further team member stood down responding.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank a number of people for their kind help in directing us to this serious incident, including the colleague mountain biker members of the injured mans party, and a passing mountain biker, Al Paton of Heywood, who assisted with information given to Ambulance Control as to the location of this incident.

We would also like to thank once again Bowland Pennine MRT for allowing us the use of their Winter Hill Repeater channel, which greatly assisted us in our radio communications whilst responding to this incident.

This incident today is the third Mountain Biker accident we have attended so far this year. (In 2013 we were called out to ten mountain biker incidents)