I very much doubt that any readers of this blog would contemplate going anywhere 'interesting' at this time, but you never know. The text below has certainly killed off any thoughts I might have had about going for a walk or ride in the Peak District. Thanks to Conrad, who lives a bit nearer to the Lakes, for publicising this:
This is a copy of a Facebook page for Coniston Mountain
Rescue.
It is worth reading in full and disseminating widely in the
outdoor community.
Hello All,
Hopefully, you’re all managing to stay safe and healthy
through the Covid-19 pandemic.
We know that many of you will be desperate to get back on
the fells and trails, and to get your Lake District
“fix”. The relaxation of the Coronavirus lockdown may have been music to your
ears when the Prime Minister stated that it is now Ok to drive any distance to
take your exercise. This came as a total surprise to us as a Mountain Rescue
Team (MRT), Cumbria Police, Cumbria Tourist Board, The Lake District National
Park and also The National Trust. Simply, the Lake
District is NOT ready for a large influx of visitors. The
hospitality sector remains closed, some car parks may be re-opening, along with
some toilet facilities, but this is an enforced opening due to this
announcement to cater for those that do decide to come, rather than an
invitation.
Why are we, Coniston Mountain Rescue Team, so concerned about the relaxation of
the travel to exercise rules? Maybe if we talk you through what happens it may
explain why we’re worried.
Firstly, we are all volunteers – most of us have day jobs
from which we take time off to deal with incidents during work hours, or time
out of the rest of our lives “out of hours”, and secondly most of us have
families who we need to protect.
How a rescue might play out during the Covid-19 pandemic:-
1. Paul and Sarah came up from Preston, and
have summited the Old Man of Coniston, had their lunch and set off down towards
Goats Water.
2. Paul slips and hears a crack from his left ankle, Sarah tries to help, but
Paul can’t put weight on his ankle which is at a funny angle anyway. Paul is 15
stone and 6ft 2 tall. Sarah is fit but no way could she help Paul back down.
3. Sarah dials 999, remembers to ask for Police and then Mountain Rescue, the
operator takes the details and asks a lot of questions to assess the Covid-19
risk posed by both Paul & Sarah to the MRT, and subsequently to Ambulance
and medical staff that will need to treat Paul.
4. In the meantime, four groups of people come by, they all say they’d love to
help but haven’t got any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and must socially
distance themselves by at least 2 metres.
5. The Police alert Coniston MRT to the incident via SARCALL, and the Duty Team
Leader (TL) calls Sarah, having sent her a link by text for her to click on to
confirm their exact position, and asks more questions, to work out the
resources needed.
6. The TL then calls other members of the Leader Group to discuss the
requirements and decides a 10 member group is required on the hill and alerts
the Team to that requirement.
7. The Team numbers are depleted anyway, we have a number of people who
contribute massively to the Team generally but are over 70 years old, i.e.
higher risk group, we have people who may be shielding a family member, or at
risk themselves due to underlying medical conditions that normally wouldn’t be
an issue. So a team of 10 assemble at the MRT base, plus someone to run the
base – this person is important as it helps with coordination of other services
letting the hill party get on with the job.
8. All members are briefed regarding the incident, and check all are happy with
the unknown invisible risk posed by the incident; the risk of walking up the
fell is taken as read and a baseline anyway. All PPE is checked.
9. Team members climb aboard two of the Team’s three vehicles. Why only two when
social distancing could be better in 3 vehicles? The need to decontaminate the
vehicles on return probably outweighs the advantage of social distancing, and
it leaves another vehicle able to respond to any other incidents.
10. Normally the Team would mobilise within 10-15 minutes of this type of call,
due to all the pre-checks, personnel checks etc., the time elapsed thus far is
45 minutes.
11. The vehicles arrive at the road head, one last check on PPE and kit for the
incident, including radios, and the Team sets off for the casualty site.
Walking time to site is around 45-60 minutes.
12. The Team can’t call on the Air Ambulance for support as they’re off-line
for this type of incident due to staff being redeployed elsewhere in the NHS or
due to other priorities and risk factors so cannot support. Similar with
Coastguard Helicopters…
13. On site, one casualty carer and one assistant will approach the casualty
with as much PPE on as possible, and may well apply PPE to the patient before
carrying out a full primary survey, in this case that’s simple, Paul’s ankle is
(probably) broken, and there are no other underlying medical factors like a
head injury, multiple other injuries or catastrophic bleeding.
14. The casualty carer and helper would normally give Paul some Entonox (pain
killing gas) while they straighten his ankle to ensure a pulse at the foot and
also maybe a pain killing injection. The injection takes 15 mins or so to work,
but Entonox is not given because of the potential risk of contamination. However,
the foot needs straightening ASAP to restore the pulse in Paul’s foot. Paul
screams as the casualty carer re-aligns the foot (it’s called reducing the
injury) to restore circulation and allow for splinting.
15. Paul’s ankle is splinted and although he’s still in pain, it’s less than it
was and the painkilling injection is starting to take effect. Time elapsed
since Paul fell is now 2 hours 15 mins.
16. The Team moves in and helps Paul on to the stretcher, the stretcher is made
of stainless steel and heavy, it is about 2.5 metres long and maybe 0.6 metres
wide, usually it takes 8 people to carry a loaded stretcher, they cannot
socially distance.
17. The Team carries Paul down to the Walna Scar road, where they’ve asked a
North West Ambulance Service land ambulance to meet them to reduce potential
contamination at base. The carry down has taken 2 hours, so now it’s 4 hrs 15
since Paul fell. Paul is transferred to the Ambulance and taken to Furness General Hospital.
Sarah can’t drive, but can’t go in the Ambulance either. How can the Team get
Sarah re-united with Paul and then how do they both get home to Preston when Paul is fixed? What happens to their car? In
normal circumstances we can fix these issues, not so easy in the Covid-19
pandemic.
18. The Team returns to base and starts to decontaminate the stretcher, the
vehicles, the non-disposable medical equipment, the splint and themselves.
Jackets and other clothing are all bagged ready to go in their washing machines
when they get home, which takes a further 1 hour 15 minutes. Total time elapsed
5hrs 30 minutes. Total man-hours 10 folk on the hill plus 1 running base = 60.5
man-hours.
19. Paul is admitted to Furness
General Hospital
after a wait of 1 hour at A&E. He is taken to cubicles and X Rayed to understand
his ankle injury better. He is also routinely tested for Covid-19. Paul’s ankle
needs an operation to pin it as the break is a bad one.
20. Paul’s Covid-19 test comes back positive. Oh dear! Paul is asymptomatic, he
has the virus but is either naturally immune or has not yet developed symptoms.
The message is passed back to Coniston MRT, who then have to check the records
of those on the incident. Every one of them, the ten people on the incident and
the base controller, must now self isolate and so must their families, so now
we have maybe 35 people all having to self-isolate. Plus possibly the Ambulance
crew and their families.
21. Three days later Eric from Essex decides
he wants to come to Coniston to do the 7 Wainwrights in the Coniston Fells. He
sets off, and completes Dow Crag, the Old Man, Brim Fell along to Swirl How and
Great Carrs and across to Grey Friar, then on up to Wetherlam. Eric puts his
foot down on a rock, the rock moves and Eric is in a heap on the floor, his
foot is at a funny angle…he gets his phone out and dials for Mountain Rescue…
but there are only three people available from the Coniston Team now, so the
decision needs to be taken by the Coniston MRT duty leader which Team to call
to support, Neighbouring Teams are Langdale-Ambleside and Duddon & Furness
MRT’s. The issue is, they’re in the same situation as Coniston with people
self-isolating due to potential contamination, or their members are keyworkers
in the NHS and can’t deploy on MRT incidents.
So – we’re asking you to think twice, even three times before you embark upon
travelling to the Lake District for your
exercise. The risk, however small, is real, and I write this as an MRT member
for over 30 years with probably around 1000 incidents under my belt, I know,
accidents happen.
