Badly injured man rescued from snowy Gloucestershire hillside by paramedics
An amateur photographer had to be rescued by specialist ambulance crews yesterday morning after falling and breaking his leg on a remote hillside.
The man, thought to be in his 50s, was lying out in the snow for four hours while crews worked to get him to safety and was in danger of hypothermia.
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The paramedics make their way through the snow
He had been out capturing images of the snowy landscape on Robinswood Hill in Matson,.
Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) received a 999 call shortly before 10.30am reporting his injury.
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A paramedic in a rapid response vehicle reached the patient after parking his vehicle on the outskirts of the village and scrambling up the steep, icy hillside to him.
He requested specialist back-up after confirming the man has suffered a double break to his lower right leg.
Units from the GWAS Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) were also dispatched from their base in Filton, near Bristol – including the team's six-wheel all-terrain vehicle knows as Polaris.
HART Team Leader Gareth Knights said: "The patient's location was almost as remote as it could have been – over a mile from any sort of road and towards the top of a steep hill only reached through fields, locked gates and dense woodland.
"The three issues we had to tackle were locating him, treating him and then extracting him. As well as the injury to the leg, the protracted rescue clearly left him in danger of deteriorating rapidly through hypothermia."
Specialist thermal warming blankets were used to stop the man getting any colder and he was then taken by the Polaris vehicle to a waiting ambulance.
It left the scene at 2.30pm and had him at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital 30 minutes later.
Comments
by JeremyBadger
Friday, January 25 2013, 12:25AM
“I still maintain that four hours to get a man from Robinswood Hill to Gloucester Hospital is absolutely ridiculous! No wonder that our "Great Western A.S." has been taken over by the South Western Ambulance Service, the management of the GWAS has been pathetic for quite a few years and has lost all credibility. Who on earth would send a vehicle from Filton to Robinswood Hill? Ambulance staff who were in the Gloucestershire Ambulance Service service more than ten years ago will be cringing in embarrassment at this total farce!”
by JeremyBadger
Friday, January 25 2013, 12:14AM
“TimMessanger:
That's what I was asking! Why don't you read the comment before jumping on your high horse?
Supprisingly enough the helicopter can land on snow as long as there is solid ground below and there was no fog as in Vauxhall.
Now, do we get an answer from the people who know what they are talking about?”
by TimMessanger
Sunday, January 20 2013, 7:46PM
“JeremyBadger - where would you land the helicopter? what was the visibility like? (remember the little incident in London) was the helicopter available?”
by JeremyBadger
Sunday, January 20 2013, 5:09PM
“I thought that the Air Ambulance was supposed to be the "Bees Knees" for undertaking tasks such as this, four hours to get a man from Robinswood Hill to Gloucester Hospital? Ridiculous!”
by LewBrush
Saturday, January 19 2013, 12:19PM
“Well done Rackmani! If we all had Spindles attitude we would still be living in caves. An extra 'well done' to all the rescuers.”
by Rackmani
Saturday, January 19 2013, 12:11PM
“Hope he gets better soon. Good work rescue teams.
Hell guys we all take risks every day! People shouldn't smoke but they do; the guy was only hiking for Christ's sake, give him a break..... No pun intended!”
by spindles12
Saturday, January 19 2013, 11:15AM
“Surely he could have got some lovely snow photographs without going "over a mile from any sort of road and towards the top of a steep hill only reached through fields, locked gates and dense woodland". Is a good photograph worth a double fracture of a leg and having to call out numerous people to rescue you, also putting them in danger of injury to themselves?”
by Michael_AH
Saturday, January 19 2013, 10:43AM
“that'll be Friday morning then, not this morning”