At 17:37 this evening, whilst some team members were still present at our base (after returning from the earlier search in Manchester), the North West Ambulance Service (Greater Manchester Area) paged the team asking for assistance at an incident at Sale Water Park, Sale.

Our Team Leader made a short phonecall and 3 team vehicles left the base at 17:44 with 7 persons on board, along with other team members who responded in their own vehicles. We had been asked to assist with the stretcher evacuation of a patient as they were on the banks of the River Mersey, some 500m away from where the NWAS ambulance was able to reach. (The ambulance was located at the Jacksons Boat public house).

The first team members arrived at the RVP at 17:50, with the first team vehicles arriving at 18:02. A female mountain biker in a group of five other cyclists, nearing the conclusion of a long ride, had become unseated from her cycle and had slipped, sustaining a suspected fracture dislocation of her left ankle.
She was treated by the responding NWAS(GMA) crew, who had already splinted the injured woman’s lower leg/ankle, and was able to offer the woman self administered Entonox analgesia, to offset her considerable pain.

Using one of the team’s mountain rescue stretchers, the female casualty was then carried along the footpath of the river, back to the NWAS ambulance where she was then taken to Wythenshawe Hospital.

In total, 17 team members responded to this incident which was concluded at 19:24 once the vehicles had returned to the Ladybridge Hall base.

By one of those odd coincidences, one of the woman’s companions was aware of us, from an MRT training awareness course some 20 years ago with the team. (Longsleddale in the south east Lakes for our older readers familiar with that period of the team’s history).

Yet again this incident demonstrates the very close co operative working the team has with NWAS (GMA).