Episode 10 Countryside 999

Rural Britain has some of the most challenging environments in the world.

In Scotland, the mountains, lochs and coastline encourage

tourists and locals to get out into the wilds.

But with that, comes danger.

Put your arms by your side!

The emergency services north of the border have to deal with

extreme challenges every day...

SHOUTING Come here! Come here now! What's he done to you?!

..from severe weather and treacherous terrain...

-Is the pain getting worse, do you think?

-Yes.

..to covering huge distances on country roads

with time against them.

Can we just get him out ASAP?

They work around the clock,

battling against some of the most difficult situations.

We'll be right at the heart of the action.

Side-by-side with air rescue saving lives,

on the road with paramedics caring for the injured,

and following the police fighting crime,

as the emergency services work together to pick up,

patch up and protect the public in rural communities.

This is Countryside 999.

Coming up...

The Royal Navy, police, fire and ambulance services

join forces to response to a serious accident on a remote country road.

He's conscious but taking a wee dip, so we'll just get him out ASAP.

We go out on the beat in the market town of Dumfries, on one of

the busiest nights of the festive season with local PC, Kerrie Smith.

Happy Christmas!

And emergency consultants in a rural hospital deal with

pre-Christmas casualties.

-Come on.

-No!

-Here, listen. You're in... Oi! You're in hospital.

The festive season brings with it winter conditions.

Across rural Britain, snow,

ice and rain bring havoc to scattered communities

and make driving conditions on country roads much more treacherous.

HMS Gannet in Ayrshire is home to one of the country's busiest

search and rescue units.

In winter, the Royal Navy crews play a crucial role,

reaching and treating people in hostile environments.

Joining the crews training exercise today is

Dr Neil Hughes from the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service, or EMRS.

A team made up of A&E specialist,

they can treat life-threatening injuries at the site

of accidents before the injured are transported to hospital.

But, during the exercise, a real emergency call comes in.

There's been a head-on car crash on the A82 near Tyndrum.

They're low on fuel, but decide they need to get

Dr Neil Hughes on site as quickly as possible.

The 10 ton helicopter burns aviation fuel

at around 10 litres per minute,

so they will need to keep a constant eye on fuel levels.

With the extreme weather and icy roads,

helicopter is the fastest option for getting a medical team

direct to the casualty's remote location.

Once we discovered where the incident was,

we discovered it was the A82 road,

and that's quite an extremely rural road.

We could see that there had been a lot of bad weather up there

and we assumed the road was going to be icy.

And, as you can imagine, for any form of emergency service to get there,

that's going to be quite tricky in the first place.

The 147 mile-long A82 runs from Glasgow to Inverness.

It's one of the main arteries to the north of Scotland

and is one of Scotland's most dangerous roads.

As they approach, the scale of the accident becomes clear.

With so many emergency staff and members of the public on site,

finding a safe spot to land is a delicate operation.

Police, fire and ambulance are on site already,

but the swift arrival of emergency consultant Dr Neil could make

a huge difference to the outcome of any critically injured casualties.

The wide-open spaces of Britain's rural areas mean that

the emergency services have greater distances to cover

than their counterparts in the cities.

Dumfries & Galloway has the smallest mainland police force

in the UK, with just 515 officers.

That's one officer to every five square miles.

But, along with the countryside,

they must also police the region's town centres.

Dumfries is the main town for the region -

a small market town, popular with tourists on the Burns Trail.

In the Christmas season,

a visible police presence is needed more than ever.

No-one understands that more than local PC Kerrie Smith.

So, tonight, between really 17:00 hours and 02:00 this morning,

it's probably the busiest time of the year for us

with custodies and antisocial behaviour.

So there's extra staff on tonight. We intend being quite busy.

Born and bred in Dumfries, this is Kerrie's home turf.

Tonight, she and Sgt Carol Anne Campbell are on the beat

in the streets of the town.

-You're going to have a very busy night, aren't you?

-Santa!

-Yeah.

Hi, Terry.

Merry Christmas!

-The police here are very much part of the local community.

-Hi, folks.

Hi.

And, with fewer police officers on the ground than in cities,

there is more of a community policing approach.

Just tell Santa what you want for Christmas.

Enjoy your night and have a nice Christmas.

Kerrie and Carol Anne visit the local pubs to test the mood

and check with doormen that they are well prepared for the night ahead.

-Is there more of you due out?

-There's six of us on tonight.

So, the time is nine o'clock. The town's pretty busy.

Everyone's in good spirits. It's good to see.

So, hopefully, that'll be for the remainder of the night, as well.

Police presence is high tonight.

The officers hope balancing that with a friendly

and tolerant approach will keep the atmosphere festive.

-Hello.

-Hi, folks.

-Hi there.

It's nice and friendly just now, but you'll see the manners change

and behaviours change later on, maybe in a couple of hours' time.

The moods will certainly change.

Dumfries might be a small market town,

but it starts to look like any city centre

when the alcohol starts to flow.

On certain nights of the year, the population of Dumfries swells.

Its pubs and nightclubs draw party-goers

from the surrounding towns, farms and villages...

..all converging in the town centre.

It seems like a busload of them have just arrived,

and not that quietly.

A call's come over the radio about a bus coming to town

with five youths on board causing a bit of disturbance, being sick, etc.

As we're on foot, we'll just head down, as well, just to give

a bit of assistance and see what's happening.

What happened, guys, you going to tell us?

The guy that spewed is in there just now,

He's talking to him, he's all right, I've told him to owe him £30.

Picked five of them up in Moffat, rather rowdy.

Barely out of Beattock on the way to Dumfries

and spewed all over the bus.

They were just trying to be vulgar and loud and obnoxious.

Which is why I phoned for the assistance of the police.

Also to get the fine money for cleaning the bus after it.

Kerrie doles out a fitting punishment.

On top of the £30 fine from the bus company,

the youth is faced with cleaning up his own sick in the morning.

His night of partying is over.

You've got to get to a point where you don't take much slack.

And there is no slacking for Kerrie

when there is a suspected knife attack

outside a nearby pub.

The Royal Navy search and rescue team are attending a serious

road traffic collision just outside Tyndrum in the Scottish Highlands,

between Glasgow and Fort William.

On board, they have Dr Neil Hughes

from the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service.

Their own winch man, Dave Rigg, is a trained paramedic.

Today, we're out on a training session

and we've got one of the local retrieval doctors, Neil, with us,

and as soon as we got the call he was ready and with us.

It's icy and two cars have had a head-on collision

on a notoriously dangerous road.

The fire service incident commander is in control of the situation.

His team have been working to free the casualties,

but now need guidance from the medics.

Right, guys, what we need from you is to tell us

whether you want us to open it. We haven't done anything yet.

We need access through the B-post.

If you let us know, we'll open it further to extricate him.

-But we've left quite tight just now.

-Superb. We'll have a quick look.

There are three casualties.

One of them is in a critical condition.

A&E consultant Dr Neil Hughes has arrived just 21 minutes after

the collision to give specialist care at the scene of the accident.

Unfortunately, it's been quite a nasty road smash.

We've had one severely injured casualty and we have got two other

minor injured casualties but who are in a stable condition.

But it's... Yeah, it's a fairly isolated place

and a nasty crash, unfortunately.

They must get this driver to hospital as soon as possible.

By road, the journey could take hours,

with nearby traffic now at gridlock.

A heli-med air ambulance with more specialist equipment

is on its way from Glasgow.

I think the heli-med is still coming, isn't it?

Yes, as far as I know.

We'll need anaesthetic drugs and stuff, I think.

-How are the other casualties doing?

-His conscious level has taken a wee dip, so we'll just get him out ASAP.

The heli-med's arrival is vital.

Is there any chance of getting all these vehicles behind

-the fire engines back, so we can land there?

-OK.

Navy winch man Dave helps clear a landing space for the heli-med

whilst Neil assesses the driver's condition.

The police are moving them vehicles back,

so as soon as we get a chance we'll get them up here.

He's got an open leg fracture, and a forearm fracture, as well.

Just getting some morphine here for the doctor,

because he's seen that, obviously,

the patient needs some major analgesia.

And as soon as he's got a line in, then we'll give the pain relief,

then hopefully we'll be able to get him extracted.

The heli-med arrives.

The driver is removed from the car.

With the heli-med now on site, the Sea King crew take the decision

to go to Killin, 25 miles away, to refuel.

Can you open your eyes for me?

The critically injured patient is assessed

and handed over to the specialist team on board the heli-med.

Once we removed the casualty from his car, the doctor decided at that

point, that he would be required to be put in a controlled sleep.

Therefore, with the air ambulance arriving,

we knew we had a doctor team on there that could do that.

Fortunately, with us being there early,

we could get most of the preparation done in advance

and save them a lot of time once they did arrive.

But there are still two casualties to attend to.

Our boys are going to come back, we will bring our aircraft in here,

extricate the person in that car, get them straight to hospital.

On the last Friday before Christmas, people from rural areas

all over Dumfries & Galloway pour into the market town of Dumfries.

It's known as black-eye Friday,

and it's traditionally a busy night for the police.

The town's hospital staff are also well aware

of the caseload this night traditionally brings.

The A&E department treats around 100 patients every day.

In the run-up to Christmas, the results of festive spirits

often end up here for the staff to pick up the pieces.

Dr Pete Armstrong has 13 years experience on the job

and is now a consultant in emergency medicine.

Well, today is black-eye Friday, 21st December.

It's traditionally thought to be one of the busiest days in A&E.

Locally, it's black-eye Friday because everybody has..

It's the start of the festivities,

so lots of people going on work nights out.

It's not long before Pete has to deal with

a casualty from the town centre's revelry.

We're just going to go and see an 18-year-old lad who

sounds like he's had too much to drink and has been fighting.

In Scotland, 70% of A&E admissions after assaults are alcohol-related.

Most involve people under 30.

Come on. Wakey-wakey! Come on. Sit up and tell me what's happening.

-You're in hospital. Why are you here?

-Not a clue.

-Don't have a clue. OK.

How about, you've had too much to drink and you been fighting?

-Is that a good starting point?

-No!

-Are you sore anywhere?

HE GROANS

-Come on. Up the bed.

-No.

-Come on, up the bed.

Come up.

Come on. Up the bed.

Right, come on. Let's see you. Open up your eyes.

Pete must make sure his patient's not suffering more than just

superficial injuries.

But, in this state, it's tricky to get him to see sense.

-OK. Let's see this side here.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Let's see this one. Come on.

-No!

-Here, listen. You're in hospital.

Just behave yourself.

Just behave yourself. You're in hospital, we're trying to help you,

so let me take a look at your elbow. Let me take a look at your elbow.

Right, let's see this elbow of yours.

Och, you've just got a wee bruise over it.

Apart from a few bumps and bruises, he's OK.

Right, someone will pass you in a bottle.

Don't even think about it in the cubicle.

But, before the doctor even has a chance

to give him the disposable bottle...

Come on.

..he's passed out.

Come on, come on.

Here you go.

You need a pee.

Sit in the trolley and use that, OK?

-BLEEP.

-OK, that's fine.

That's fine.

Each year, over 10% of NHS staff are assaulted.

It's one reason why this hospital has dedicated police officers

on site, to help them deal with drunk or aggressive patients.

Just because you've had too much to drink doesn't give you a right

to start being difficult with people, starting, as you saw there,

to start punching at things, spitting at things, you know.

It's the difference between right and wrong.

Pete's called for police assistance, but it looks like this young man

is going to do more harm to himself than anyone else tonight.

Come on! Come on! Why are you lying on the floor?

BLEEP.

-Can I suggest that you sit.

-Sorry. Sorry.

-No, it's fine.

I know you're trying to look after me.

Come on, sit on the edge of the trolley. There you go.

If you want to have a pee, there you go, OK?

Will you get me another one and I'll try again? I'm sorry, I won't punch.

OK. I'll go and get you another one.

While Pete gets another disposable bottle,

the police arrive to keep his patient in line.

-How are you doing?

-Not too bad.

-Listen, you need to co-operate,

with these doctors, right?

-You punched the last one, OK, and spat on the floor.

-Sorry.

Right, you've got a job to do here.

Let's just calm down and get the job done, all right?

In this state, a trip to the toilet, assisted by a nurse

and a police officer, is the best treatment.

He has multiple superficial wounds and abrasions,

but nothing that's giving any other big cause for concern at the moment.

So, I think what he needs is a bit of time to actually sober up.

Pete's patient is clearly relieved.

So he's left to sleep it off before the police take him home.

In the market town of Dumfries, black-eye Friday, one of the busiest

nights of the year for the emergency services, is well under way.

Sgt Carol Anne Campbell and PC Kerrie Smith

are on duty until 2:00 AM,

keeping an eye on the Christmas revellers.

With the alcohol flowing freely, the atmosphere changes,

and then reports come in of a knife attack outside a pub.

Police officers are already at the scene and requesting back up.

Carol Anne and Kerrie must race across town on foot.

By the time they arrive, the situation has been defused.

Basically, what happened was,

there was an allegation that a young boy had a knife on him.

Officers have gone down and detained him for a search.

I think he put up a bit of a fight.

We've attended, but it's been all calm on arrival.

Been searched, it was a negative result,

and he's been released to go home and there has been no other

further complaints about a knife or anything else being mentioned.

It was quite hard to control, initially, with the numbers involved

until other colleagues arrived and gave us a wee hand with everything.

We're expecting a bit more bother later on tonight

as the alcohol flows.

Haven't seen any black-eyes yet, but I'm sure there'll be some later on.

It is getting towards the end of the night,

and Kerrie and Carol Anne take a final turn around town.

But, with the streets still packed, black-eye Friday isn't over yet.

There's an assault up ahead.

Come here! Come here now! Get here now!

Carol Anne and Kerrie apprehend a youth running away from the scene.

Yeah, by the way, I'm bleeding through the mouth because of him.

How did you not throw a punch?

-He ran up that street.

-Aye, you jumped me!

-Right, right.

Two of the group are charged with breach of the peace

and taken into custody.

And, at last, it's the end of a long night protecting the community

Kerrie grew up with.

It's 2:05 and it is end of shift for us.

Black-eye Friday has, touch wood, so far gone OK.

So, a quick couple of updates, and then that will be me.

A head-on collision between two cars on an isolated rural road in the

Scottish Highlands has left three people injured, one critically.

Emergency services are working in unison to get the injured to hospital.

It's a stroke of luck that emergency consultant Dr Neil Hughes

was on board the Royal Navy helicopter when they got the call-out.

I work with the EMRS, which is our retrieval service here,

and I was with HMS Gannet doing exercises in the hills,

some winching practice and some mountain manoeuvres

when we were tasked here to this road traffic collision.

So, we've landed and been the first on the scene and been able to

assess the casualties and help them as best we could, before our

colleagues from the service in Glasgow arrived to help us out, as well.

The seriously injured man is now on his way to hospital by air ambulance.

So, Neal and Navy paramedic Dave Rigg

now focus on the other casualties.

The other gentleman is trapped, but not too badly.

-So just keeping him there while we sit out the bad weather.

-The other guy, I think,

-we can probably get him to mostly self-extricate.

-Perfect.

We'll then extricate the other chap, take the other casualty, as well,

bring our aircraft back in, disappear off to hospital.

The passenger, Joe, has managed to get out of the other car.

Robin, the driver,

-has moved into the passenger seat to be treated by the medics.

-I'm OK.

I've got very bad bruising.

We were driving up from Tyndrum and I remember I was looking at a map,

and just as I glanced up from the map,

the next second, we had the impact. So...

Although there's obviously some bruising,

I think Robin's all right, he's got a bit of a strap burn.

His collarbone's probably away.

The Navy helicopter is back from Killin,

where it refuelled, ready to get the two men to hospital.

Yeah, we had the heli-med here earlier.

We're now using the same place.

We're now bringing the helicopter in,

get the two walking wounded in and off straight away.

Both men are able to walk on to the helicopter,

but driver Robin needs some assistance.

Two hours after they arrived on the scene, Dave, Dr Neil

and the crew are all aboard, en route to the nearest hospital.

-Right, three, two, one, engage.

-All right. Ready to lift.

-Yes.

So, for Neil the doctor, who was with us that day,

that turned out to be an extremely interesting day for him.

Straight from a high-level mountain training session,

then into an extremely interesting job,

where we're all working extremely hard.

As night falls, Joe and Robin are handed over to paramedics,

who'll escort them to Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.

A job well done, the crew head back to base.

It's been all go for the emergency services in Scotland's rural areas.

After the head-on collision in the Highlands, the seriously injured

casualty survived the crash and received specialist medical care.

Robin, in the other car, is still suffering from some back pain.

His passenger, Joe, has made a full recovery.

The drunk young lad apologised to staff for his behaviour,

and, on black-eye Friday in Dumfries,

police attended 40 different incidents which led to 29 arrests.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.

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