Episode 6 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.

Steady. He's on the life raft.

The emergency services north of the border have to deal with

extreme challenges every day.

There's a car upside down.

From severe weather and treacherous terrain....

Hello?!

..to covering huge distances on country roads

with time against them.

The GP's upgraded the call to an emergency.

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 helicopter crew race to a man

who's suffered a massive heart attack.

Clearly, with the state of this patient,

the imperative is to get him to hospital as quickly as possible.

Traffic cops are called to a major collision.

Yes, roger.

And it's snow-mageddon on the slopes

as ski patrol face their busiest day of the season.

The British countryside makes up a massive 86%

of our nation's landscape and is home to over 10 million of us.

Rural living is officially good for our health.

Studies have shown those of us living in the countryside

can expect to live longer than our urban counterparts.

But, when things go wrong,

getting swift access to emergency care can be difficult.

Longer journeys to hospital come with increasing risks for patients,

making getting to remote places quickly

one of the greatest challenges faced by our rural emergency services.

HMS Gannet.

Home of the Royal Navy Search And Rescue team,

based near Prestwick on Scotland's West Coast.

ALARM

It's 12:30pm.

Scramble ASAR, scramble ASAR.

The crew have a call-out.

A man has suffered a heart attack and needs urgent air evacuation.

On duty today as part of the four-strong crew

is observer, or navigator, Florry Ford.

We've just been tasked to assist with the transfer

of a 67-year-old male post heart attack.

He's at Campbeltown, just down here at the moment,

so a relatively short transit.

The medical team have gone across from Glasgow,

but they're unable to take him back in the Helimed,

so we're going to go and pick them and him up

and take them back to Glasgow.

Rescue 177's ready for departure.

Rescue Helicopter 177 is airborne in less than 15 minutes.

The helicopter is heading 37 miles east to Kintyre,

to the region's main town, Campbeltown.

40 miles long and only 11 miles wide,

Kintyre is an isolated peninsula of farmland and rugged coastline.

It's over three hours' drive from Glasgow.

With a man's life in danger,

air evacuation is the fastest means of getting him to specialist care.

Assisting pilot John Wade is co-pilot Craig "Sweenos" Sweeney.

We're en route to pick up a member of the public from Campbeltown

who's post-cardiac arrest at the moment.

The helicopters are very important in this environment,

because you can see there's lots of water, lots of islands

which have got hilly ground and, clearly,

with the state of this patient,

the imperative is to get him to hospital as quickly as possible.

The patient has suffered a major heart attack.

An air ambulance, or Helimed,

has already been dispatched from Glasgow,

with two A&E consultants from the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service.

But, on arrival,

they found the patient was too big to be transferred by Helimed.

The Navy Sea King helicopter

can carry up to 20 casualties in its spacious hold.

It's the best aircraft for the job.

A road transfer by ambulance would be out of the question.

That's Prestwick airport, where we're at,

and the casualty's over here on Campbeltown.

You see the distance is not that significant, however,

when you look at the roads to get down there,

it's about 120 miles one way to come all the way round,

so from a road move point of view, 120 miles, even with a blue light,

on these roads is going to take you a fair few hours.

Every two minutes, someone in the UK has a heart attack.

The first 60 minutes are crucial for the patient

to receive emergency care.

Easier for emergency services to address in urban areas

than in remote, rural locations.

The patient desperately needs

the specialist care available in Glasgow,

and the Navy helicopter looks to be his only means of getting it.

Rural emergency services face unique challenges,

whether attending medical emergencies by air

or preventing ones by road.

In south-west Scotland, the Dumfries & Galloway traffic cops

safeguard a network of rural roads covering an area the size of Devon.

They're a small team. One cop for roughly every 60 miles.

They also deal with one of the highest serious accident

rates per head of population in the UK.

SIRENS

Today, PCs John Parry and Scott Burnett

are on patrol when they get an urgent call from the control centre.

One driver is trapped and unconscious

so this qualifies as a major road traffic collision.

Last year, Dumfries and Galloway Police responded

to over 300 serious traffic accidents.

'It's not so much worry. Yes, you've got your adrenaline,

'I guess that's your natural anticipation

'of what you're going to see when you get there.

'But we're trained for these sort of circumstances

'so the biggest factor is ourselves getting there in one piece.'

Nine minutes after taking the call, they arrive at the collision.

Emergency services are already on the scene.

We've got a car into the front of a Transit van hauling a trailer.

The car driver is still trapped and unconscious.

Fire crews, paramedics and police work together to get him out

of the car as quickly as possible.

It's been very icy.

As they've been approaching the bend,

the other vehicle's been approaching the bend.

As they've come round the bend, they've seen each other,

they've put their brakes on and they've gone head on.

And unfortunately, one's come off worse than the other.

Further up the West Coast, the Royal Navy Search And Rescue team

are racing to Campbeltown on the remote Kintyre peninsula

to pick up a man who's suffered a major heart attack.

The individual had had a heart attack earlier in the day,

and with anything like that

time is muscle,

so it's really important he gets care quickly.

The 67-year-old needs to be transferred to Glasgow's

Golden Jubilee Hospital for immediate cardiac care,

but he's too big to be transported in the Air Ambulance

already on site.

So, the Navy Sea King helicopter is on its way.

Its roomy hold can take up to four stretchers,

so it's more than capable of accommodating him.

We'll be landing shortly, over.

50 minutes after leaving the Ayrshire base,

the crew reach Campbeltown hospital.

OK, good line in. Follow along 60 yards.

-Well clear tail, well clear right.

-Well clear left.

With no helipad, they need to land in a nearby field,

guided by the same flare used for the Glasgow Air Ambulance team.

And you've got three foot tail, two, one...

Tail on now, now, now. Tail's down.

INAUDIBLE

Retired fisherman David has been brought in

to Campbeltown Hospital by local paramedics

who responded to his 999 call.

David's heart stopped,

but the ambulance team managed to get it started again.

Miraculously, he's now conscious and surprisingly relaxed.

Around him, the team of ambulance and hospital medics join forces with

the navy crew to form a plan for getting David on to the helicopter.

They use a piece of equipment known as a Patslide

to relieve the stress on David

and take the burden of manual lifting off the team.

Let's get the gentleman onto his right on three. One, two, three.

OK, happy and back down on three.

-Do you want me to slide over?

-No, no. You stay where you are.

We'll do everything for you.

On three, everybody set? One, two, three.

That's excellent. Thanks, guys.

Are you all right, sir? You just relax now.

We'll get this mattress shaped around you.

He's then zipped into a rescue bag, which should make it easier

and safer to transport him.

David lives just a mile away from the ambulance station.

Any further and the outcome could have been very different.

He was reached in just two minutes by local paramedic Scott Ramsey.

It's the best result you can get under the circumstances.

He was definitely at the right place at the right time.

He got the right treatment.

Hopefully, he'll make a rapid recovery once they get him

into proper definitive care.

David is still not out of the woods.

The cardiac arrest will have taken a massive toll on his body.

He'll need close monitoring throughout the helicopter journey until

he's handed over to the specialist cardiac care team in Glasgow.

Remote rescues pose some of the greatest challenges to

our rural emergency services.

Helicopters can be vital to getting casualties off a mountain quickly.

But they are not the only way.

CairnGorm Mountain, Britain's busiest snow sport resort.

It's World Snow Day,

a global celebration of winter sports held once a year.

It's set to be one of the busiest days of the season.

On duty today is ski patroller Justine Stewart.

Her job is to keep the slopes as safe as possible,

but the weather isn't helping. It's -8 with a wind-chill of -28.

The winds are picking up on the mountain.

The summit weather station is saying 60, gusting 70.

We're quite sheltered down here.

South-easterly winds, so it may not sound like it's sheltered

but this is sheltered in comparison to what it's like at the top.

With such difficult conditions on the slopes, accidents can happen.

Any minor injuries are dealt with in a medical room by the ski

patrollers, who are all trained in advanced first aid.

It's not long before Justine's first casualty of the day.

Skier Liz has injured her knee.

-Can you still wiggle your toes?

-Yes.

Justine has radioed for help and a sledge

so that they can get the casualty back to base as quickly as possible.

-This is Liz.

-Hi, Liz.

They work quickly to get Liz off the mountain to reduce

the risk of hypothermia.

The sledge is the quickest way of getting Liz off the mountain,

but it's 2km downhill to the medical room.

Icy conditions and other skiers on the slope make for a tough journey.

Hey, guys. Can you just slow down?

Nine minutes later, they reach the base station.

-Can you still feel your toes?

-Yeah.

-If we can get you to swing out...

Perfect.

The medical room, also known as the Aonach room,

is the first port of call for all the slope's casualties.

Justine checks the extent of Liz's injury.

-Still sore there?

-It's not too bad.

That's me flicking a muscle. It's not bony here.

I think you might have sprained it.

Thankfully, Liz's injury appears to be relatively minor

but it's still mayhem on the slopes.

1,500 people are on the mountain today.

And the casualties just keep coming.

In the past three hours, the team have treated ten injuries.

It's like someone's sticking a sharp needle into the ball socket.

And there's no sign of the casualties letting up.

Yes, just send her along. Thank you.

-I was skiing down The White Lady.

-OK.

And when I got to the bottom, I wiped out.

-I got coloured dots going over my eyes.

-OK.

12-year-old Mark has banged his head

so he's checked for signs of concussion.

-You're good at this. Have you done this before?

-No.

Justine isn't the only one who's kept busy.

Ski patroller Iain Cornfoot has arrived

with yet another casualty off the slopes.

It's a suspected dislocated shoulder.

-Justine?

-Yeah?

-Are you free?

-Yep.

Sorry, what's your name?

I was just skiing down the lower slopes, coming down

to the bottom here and there was a gentleman

who thought he'd dislocated his shoulder

but he was in a lot of pain.

He heard someone behind him, he tried to get out the way and he fell on his shoulder.

It's that one, it's right round...ah!

BLEEP

Iain suspects Andrew may have fractured his clavicle.

He'll need to be assessed further at the medical centre down in Aviemore.

Cool. We'll phone ahead and let them know you're coming.

-All right, cheers.

-OK. All the best, guys. Cheers.

Andrew's friends take him off for treatment 10 miles away.

It's been a hectic day for the CairnGorm ski patrol.

The total number of casualties in the last three hours

has risen to 14.

It's a challenging job keeping everyone safe in some

of the harshest, windiest and coldest conditions in Britain.

But for Justine, it's just another day at the office.

It's just basically what we do. You don't really...

You don't really think about it at the time.

I remember thinking when I was younger

and skied in CairnGorm that the people in ski patrol were heroic

but I was five, so that's probably why.

From icy slopes to icy roads.

Back in Dumfries,

traffic PCs John Parry and Scott Burnett

are attending a major road traffic collision

between a Transit van and a car.

Ambulance is here.

The driver of the car is trapped and unconscious.

Roger, AJ, currently on scene in relation to

this RTC at Lockerbie golf course.

Can confirm two vehicles involved.

A van and a small car.

The road becomes very, very treacherous.

Take care on your advance.

As they've came round the bend, they've seen each other,

they've put the brakes on and they've gone head-on.

And unfortunately, one's came off worse than the other.

The driver of the van is uninjured

but there is major concern for the car driver, 52-year-old Gordon.

A Helimed crew arrived to join the other emergency services

already on the scene.

Fire brigade, ambulance service, police, everybody works hand-in-hand

but the main priority is the casualty.

The extent of Gordon's injuries isn't yet known.

The fire crews start removing the roof

with heavy-duty metal cutters, known as the jaws of life.

With all the teams working together,

the fire crew manage to get the roof off

and work with the ambulance team to get Gordon on to a stretcher.

The Helimed crew are on hand to evacuate him if necessary.

One of the persons involved in the accident

is in the back of the ambulance just now getting assessed just to see

what sort of injuries he has, whether it's life-threatening.

Cos if it does change from a minor RTC, road traffic crash,

to a life-threatening one,

there's a lot more procedures need to be done for a life-threatening one.

John, Scott and the Helimed team are on standby whilst they await

for the ambulance crew's assessment of Gordon's injuries.

Meanwhile, the gritter arrives to make the road conditions safer.

Gordon has regained consciousness.

His injuries aren't as serious as first feared.

He suffered broken bones and will need to be taken to

Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, 12 miles away.

The traffic cops update the van driver with some welcome news.

Which is good.

The Helimed team are stood down and head back to Glasgow.

Weather conditions is a major player here.

I mean, hardly any of us could walk down the road

prior to it being gritted so you can just imagine

the effect it had on tyre adhesion and braking.

With the other emergency teams having done their bit

and Gordon safely away to hospital, it's down to

traffic cops John and Scott to help with the clear-up.

From our point of view,

all we're waiting for now is the recovery of the vehicles.

Once the recovery of the vehicles has taken place,

the road will be reopened.

It has been gritted now

so hopefully that'll be the end of accidents on this road.

From a multi-team effort on the roads, to one by air.

In Campbeltown, the Royal Navy Search and Rescue Team

are preparing to airlift heart attack victim David.

Lack of space in the air ambulance means he'll need the bigger

Navy helicopter to get him to urgent specialist care in Glasgow.

David's been brought to the waiting helicopter

but there's a problem.

The ground is so waterlogged, the ambulance can't reach it.

The Search and Rescue Team prepare to move the Sea King closer.

Small, rural hospitals like Campbeltown rarely have helipads

but a boggy field is no challenge for the Navy team.

An eight-man team of coastguards, ambulance crew

and Helimed medics help lift David onto the helicopter.

Main's clear, tail's clear. Steady up. Well clear as you climb.

INAUDIBLE

That's us now departing Campbeltown, we are now eight persons on board.

On board are medics Alistair Kennedy and Andrew Inglis

from the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service.

They travel out to rural areas to provide critical care

on scene to seriously ill patients like David.

Got the casualty in the aircraft now with the retrieval team.

He's stable, we're looking after him. We're on our way back up to Glasgow.

It's about 35 minutes for us.

At a guess, probably a four-hour - at least - road journey,

120 miles and some very small, windy roads.

The Royal Navy Search and Rescue Unit

regularly assist in medical emergencies like David's.

30% of Scotland is made up of mountains.

And there are over 100 inhabited islands.

So air evacuation's not just the quickest way...

..it's very often the only way.

Rescue 177. Roger, continue to the Golden Jubilee

and let down at your discretion.

Wind at the field is 07 degrees, seven knots.

Emergency medic Alistair keeps a close eye on David.

His condition remains stable.

It's not long before the crew make their approach to Glasgow.

BEEPING

OK, we've got it in visual. Forward about three, two, one.

Clear the nose, clear right, check, clear left...we're there.

This was a really good example where the system worked.

We started off with the paramedics arriving on the scene.

'They brought the man back, they stabilised him,

'took him to their local hospital. We then arrived to actually package him.

'As soon as he was ready, back at the Sea King'

off to Glasgow where he could get the care he really needed.

-REVERSING WARNING:

-Stand well clear.

Four hours earlier, David's heart stopped.

Now, thanks to the hard work of the emergency teams,

he's been given a second chance.

Getting critical care when he needed it most

not only saved his life, it should aid his recovery.

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

After a stay in hospital,

heart-attack victim David is back home in Campbeltown

with his wife and family, where he is continuing to receive treatment.

Gordon, the car driver in the Lockerbie collision, is facing

a major operation after breaking both his feet.

He is relying on walking sticks in the meantime.

And the avalanche of injuries kept coming on CairnGorm Mountain

with 25 incidents by the end of World Snow Day.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd