Episode 30 Helicopter Heroes

If you're critically ill or seriously injured, seconds count

and in Britain's biggest county

you can be a long way from help.

-'Where's the patient?

-Under the car.'

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance flies at 150 miles an hour

and thanks to its speed, hundreds of patients are alive today,

saved by a highly skilled team of doctors and paramedics.

-Stand clear, everybody.

-Keep going, mate.

It covers some of the UK's most rugged landscapes, turning roadsides into operating theatres...

We'll give him an emergency anaesthetic.

..and town centres into helipads.

'Just behind you, Tim.'

And every day, the Helimed teams' skill, speed and courage is saving lives.

Today, on Helicopter Heroes...

A train hits a car on a level crossing

and Helimed 98 is scrambled.

It'll be high speed. It's one of the main lines through Doncaster.

High in the Yorkshire Dales, a vet is seriously injured.

It's toppled and John the vet was on the side that it toppled on.

A bridge collapses, hurling this man into the river.

Dazed, concussed, confused.

It doesn't look very nice. I may have to divert to the airport.

And snow grounds an elderly lady's flight to hospital.

Ambulance crews know that any minute

they can be called to an emergency so serious,

it will be tomorrow's front page news.

And one day this winter, Matt Syrat and Tony Wilkes found themselves scrambled

to the sort of incident every paramedic dreads.

'We're heading down to Finningley which is in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.'

A car was struck by a high-speed train on one of the level crossings.

It's going to be high speed.

It's one of the main lines through Doncaster.

Whether the car has broken down or they tried to beat the train, we're not sure, but it has been hit.

The car was crossing the line on a minor road

when it was in collision with a local commuter train.

A little girl is critically injured. Her grandmother was at the wheel.

Where is the train?

Oh, yeah, further up.

-The train's further up. Can you see it?

-Yeah, I can see it, Matt.

Yeah, we'll be able to get through there, Chris.

-It's a bit muddy.

-Yeah, sorry, guys.

-Are we going over them haystacks?

Yeah.

All good, guys.

They're setting off now.

As Tony and Matt hit the ground,

the local Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance is preparing to leave.

On board is the four-year-old back-seat passenger of the car.

She's fighting for her life, having taken the full force of the impact.

For the Helimed team, the priority now is the driver of the train and his passengers.

We've been informed there's one minor.

Rail police are checking that out, so we've got no details yet from the other side of that track down there.

The driver of the car is not seriously injured, despite the damage to her vehicle.

She's being taken to hospital by road.

-All right?

-Our gaffer's had a word, hasn't he?

-He has.

We'll have a walk down. Is there no way for us to get across?

Apparently, it's down at the next stop, down at the next level crossing, they've gone down there.

Let me take you to the bloke. He might be able to tell you exactly where it is.

The train was travelling at 60mph and Matt and Tony face a long walk to their patients.

We'll have a wander down anyway.

They find the rail driver sheltering in the cab of a goods train which stopped at the scene.

-He's badly shaken.

-How are we doing?

-A bit shaky.

-Yeah? OK.

What happened? Can you remember everything?

I was coming down here as normal, 60mph, looking ahead at the signals. Car just appeared from nowhere.

Bang, straight in front of me!

The driver seems to be OK and does not need medical help.

He's been coming along and the car's just appeared through the crossing. Not sure how.

So far, the driver's fine. A little bit shook up which is understandable.

The four-year-old's gone off to Sheffield Children's Hospital

and the female that were driving is on the back of a land ambulance

that will shortly be leaving. She's got minor injuries.

The passengers have been taken off the train.

They're shaken, but no-one is injured.

On my way from Lincoln to Doncaster.

Just a huge bang. The train sort of jumped a bit.

It came to a halt further down the track.

We just got told to get off and walk away from the train in case it explodes.

After it happened, the train stopped and we all had to get off

and walk up to the crossing just up there.

Essentially, there's nobody injured.

The weather's quite poor. We need to get them away to a place of safety.

Obviously, the police and fire will continue with their investigations

regarding what's happened here.

It's a case of getting everybody to safety, out of the rain and cold,

and everything else will take care of itself from there.

It's going to take some time to clear this crash site.

Often scenes like this involve many more serious casualties.

The car was basically just a few bits on the road,

just bits of metal, so how anybody survived, that's just a miracle.

There's quite a bit of damage to the train, so there's been quite a force of impact.

It's a total miracle that anybody has managed to survive,

so it's just one of these situations where on any given day, we could be faced with fatalities

and today, fingers crossed, not.

Tony's optimism is not to be realised.

Despite a flight to Sheffield Children's Hospital, the little girl in the car did not survive.

Her grandmother went on to recover from her injuries.

Britain is covered by a network of 32 air ambulances, all but two funded by local charities.

But sometimes separate teams end up working together.

When the sun comes out in Yorkshire,

so do the bikers.

These country roads are challenging and reports of bike accidents here are only too common.

The destination for many is Whitby,

an historic seaside town with narrow streets, a picturesque harbour

and, so the locals claim, the best fish and chips in Britain.

But today, one biker's outing has ended in a serious accident.

The patient's got a cerebral irritation, so a head injury.

Also both legs are broken at the top of the femurs.

There's been some significant forces involved in this accident,

so it's going to be a case, really, of assessing

and getting a move on quite quickly to get this patient to hospital as soon as we can.

Reports from the scene suggest a woman pillion passenger is also hurt.

'Yeah. Roger. Just to let you know that Teesside 63 are available with a doctor on board.'

Roger. Received. Thank you.

The neighbouring Great North Air Ambulance is on stand-by.

From the air, paramedic John can start to assess the scale of the accident.

The motorbike is some way down the road from the two patients.

Pilot Andy Lister needs to touch down as close to the crash site as possible.

My preferred field is that grass field with the wires running through it a bit further on,

up near the corner there.

The paramedics have seen scenes like this many times before.

The state of the car suggests that the injuries to the two bikers are going to be serious.

-Hello.

-Hiya. These are your gentlemen.

-All right, OK.

The driver of the motorbike went into the car.

-He was very agitated when we arrived.

-Right.

He's got bilateral fractures.

Biker Lewis Medlar and his girlfriend Michelle Gooch are badly hurt.

Both have broken legs and suspected head injuries.

Whose obs are more stable? We can get another helicopter if we want...

All three of us were in a similar overtake position, quite close to the white line.

The traffic was starting to slow. It's quite a good straight.

It's not bad for overtaking if the traffic isn't doing the speed limit.

-Were they both on the motorbike?

-Yeah, driver and pillion.

-Pillion, right.

-He's fractured his lower leg. She's fractured her upper leg, but he's a bit agitated.

-Right.

-Right, Lewis, settle down again for me.

-How is this pain?

-Bad.

-OK, put your head down for me.

Lewis's agitation could be a sign of a head injury, but it's Michelle's condition

which immediately concerns John and Graham. They decide they need help from the Great North Air Ambulance.

We'll leave you to manage Lewis until they come. We'll take care of this lady and get her packaged up.

Treating Michelle is urgent. John can see she is quickly losing circulation to her foot.

-It looks blue, does that.

-The paramedics need to straighten Michelle's leg and foot

and hopefully restore the blood flow before it's too late, otherwise, she may lose it.

Right, what we need to do is roll her on to this board now and then we'll traction this when she's on.

We should be able to do that.

Michelle has had a dose of morphine, but she's in a lot of pain.

Ready, steady and move.

-Ready, steady and move.

-Let's get that leg splintered now.

Can you splint that while I check her over?

Graham prepares the traction splint.

Another team is getting Lewis ready for the arrival of a second helicopter.

The Great North Air Ambulance has a doctor on board,

so if Lewis becomes agitated during the flight, he can be sedated.

The full extent of his head injury can only be determined in hospital.

-Have you got it?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Sorry, love. We're nearly done.

Michelle is now nearly ready to be moved.

John must work quickly, but gently.

Super. We'll just tighten these straps up.

Can we get one just round the bottom now?

Lewis won't be far behind. He's being prepared for flight

and now has to be assessed by Dr Dion Arbid from the Great North Air Ambulance.

Ready, steady and lift.

Oh, hang on, hang on, hang on.

That's it, OK.

The quicker Michelle can get into surgery, the greater her chances of retaining her foot.

Are you all right there, Michelle?

The nearest hospital is in Middlesbrough, around 30 miles away.

-Ready, steady, lift.

-The air ambulance is able to avoid moorland roads and the seaside traffic.

Hello. It's John Baxter, the paramedic with the air ambulance.

We can bring the patient in if you can accept.

Been knocked off a motorbike.

Fractured left femur.

Lewis is loaded on to the Great North Air Ambulance as the Helimed chopper prepares for take-off.

Clear on the left.

-I might just pop over into that field and go from there, actually.

-OK.

-Got the domestics on the left that you know about?

-Yeah.

-Road sign at two o'clock now...

Both air ambulances are now racing north.

Helimed 98 is better equipped for landing on rough terrain,

but the Great North chopper is faster.

Yeah, there they are. They are fast, aren't they?

The Great North Air Ambulance arrives at hospital first.

Pilot Andy will land on the grass next to the helipad.

Both patients reach A&E within minutes of each other.

-All right? OK?

-GROANS

It's the start of a long road to recovery.

Michelle is detained in James Cook for two months.

Her foot requires complex surgery

and it's some time before she or Lewis are fit to return home.

More than six months on and Michelle is still undergoing treatment

and doctors have told her she may yet lose her foot,

but she and Lewis are determined that one day, they will be back on their bikes.

Now, many of the Helimeds' patients are injured in unusual ways,

often in accidents no-one could have predicted.

Across Yorkshire the rain is pouring down

and the rivers are rising.

We're still working on up near High Askew, somewhere near there then.

At Helimed HQ, dispatcher Dave Gardiner has heard of a serious accident in the North York Moors.

According to this, two people were crossing a river.

The bridge has given way and they've fallen into the river.

I think they've got out, but one has got a serious head injury and we're not sure on the other.

-Let's have a look where this bridge is.

-There's the bridge right in the middle.

-Yeah.

Overhead scene and preparing to land...

Hi there. How are you doing?

-He's down at the bottom. We'll have to carry him out.

-OK.

Who's gone down there, the crew?

Yeah, there's two crews. There's another ambulance coming now.

OK. This is as far as you can get your vehicle, is it, yeah?

Phillip Welch was returning from a shooting trip when this footbridge gave way.

He was thrown head first into the water,

hitting his head on a boulder.

If his friends hadn't been there to pull him out, he could have drowned.

-They've pulled him out of the river.

-And was he unconscious at that point?

No, he wasn't unconscious. He could see stars.

-As far as you're concerned, other patients, minor injuries?

-Yeah, minor injuries.

My name's Leon, one of the air crew paramedics. How are you doing?

-Got everyone helping you out, haven't we?

-I'm tired.

-OK, fella.

-You remember everything that happened?

-Yeah.

Try and remain calm and slow that breathing down for now.

We'll get you warmed up. We'll get this board on underneath you.

Once again, the Great North chopper is being called in to assist the Helimed team.

It's based near the James Cook Hospital, so it'll be carrying Phillip for treatment.

They've not had a look, but I think he's got a full scalp laceration.

This was one of Phillip's first shooting trips.

Ironically, it's a hobby he took up after deciding motor sports were too dangerous.

Oh, the side of my head! My head hurts.

The accident couldn't have happened in a more remote place.

Before Phillip can be flown for treatment,

there's a huge wooded hillside he'll need to be carried up.

CRIES OF PAIN

Fortunately, there are plenty of friends from the shooting party happy to lend a hand.

Can we get up one of the sides, Jeremy? It's not so slippy.

But the recent rain isn't making things easy.

Nice and steady, watch your footing.

We're coming over the brow here. Come over the brow here.

Are you OK there...?

With darkness drawing in, they need to do all they can

to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.

Phillip's head wound is still bleeding.

The medics are also worried about his spine

and although he is speaking, he's showing signs of being confused.

12 hours later, at the James Cook Hospital, it's clear how lucky Phillip has been.

He has suffered a neck injury, but for a man hurled off a collapsing bridge, he's in pretty good shape.

And later that day, he's sent home.

I've fractured a vertebra in my neck.

Obviously, quite a nasty cut on the head

and extremely painful on the temple and, you know, upper part of my jaw.

I think my head looked like a rugby ball at one stage.

It went a particularly odd shape.

So, now Phillip can do little more than just read about his new hobby.

It were just instantly. One minute you were on the footbridge, the next it had gone from under your feet

and the angle it went wheeled me off to my left,

so I ended up going down into the river head first.

'But I couldn't see anything cos at that stage, there was blood pumping everywhere.

'Evidently, there was quite a lot.

'The next minute, two of the chaps were straight in and dragging me out.'

-What do we call you?

-Phillip.

-Hi, Phillip. Can you open your eyes for me? Hi there.

'They were very good. The whole thing was just a very slick operation.'

People go on about the NHS, but when the chips are down, you wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

If you live or spend a lot of time in remote areas, then an air ambulance is a life-saver,

so in the dales and moors of Yorkshire,

it's not surprising the Helimed team is the favourite local charity,

especially in winter.

-Do you have an ETA?

-ETA is 14 minutes, one-four.

-14 minutes. OK, chief.

Much of Yorkshire is blanketed with snow.

It may look idyllic, but for many, the cold weather is lethal.

An elderly female, a 92-year-old who's had a fall.

You can see we've got quite wintry, snowy conditions on the ground.

It's quite bad where we're going to. She's had a fall. The crew have said she's got an obvious fracture.

The priority is to get her up to the hospital as quickly as possible with a nasty fracture like she's got.

Paramedics Lee and Matt arrive at the remote farm near Leyburn.

The patient is Joyce Dickson. She was found lying at the bottom of her stairs,

freezing cold and in terrible pain.

The lady was found by a neighbour who normally visits her early in the morning and heard her shouting.

They had to effect a break-in and found her at the bottom of the stairs.

My husband came round to make certain she was all right.

He took her rubbish out and heard her shouting. She's fallen off the bottom step and broken her hip.

Just open the door, sir. That'll be great.

Do you want us to go to James Cook?

-Yeah, that'll be best. Just have a steady ride up there. There's no rush.

-Smashing.

Just to A&E at James Cook.

Yeah. We'll make certain this is secure.

Joyce has broken her leg after falling downstairs.

It would take too long and be too painful to go by land ambulance.

The priority is to get her on board Helimed 99, get her warm and give her pain relief.

We'll just ease her forward.

-GROANS

-All right, darling, OK...

-We'll give you a little bit more pain relief.

-I can see you.

-I know you can.

I'm not so bad, am I? Eh? I'm not so bad.

-Not the best...

-I know. We're going to be going in the helicopter up to James Cook.

It looks like you've maybe broken your leg.

-Middlesbrough?

-Yes, at Middlesbrough.

She's had a nasty midshaft femur fracture

which is at the middle of the long bone in the leg,

so we've got her some pain relief, got her comfortable.

It's best to get her to hospital and the aircraft is perfect for that.

Outdoor temperatures are well below zero and in this weather

the elderly are more susceptible to hypothermia, which can be fatal.

You just sit comfy. We'll sort you, Joyce. Don't worry.

I'm just going to pop this just under your arm, darling.

Pop it down, Joyce. Pop your arm down. Pop your arm down. That's it.

-Sats of...?

-Sats of 85.

As Helimed 99 takes to the air, there's a problem ahead.

More snow is on its way and closing in fast.

They're heading into blizzard conditions.

-It looks a bit angry up there.

-Yeah, it does a bit.

Doing a bit of a dump, isn't it?

Joyce is anxious. She is reaching out and grabbing what she can.

She's holding on to the door handle which is dangerous.

Paramedic Lee reassures her.

She is lucky her neighbour found her.

She's obviously got good neighbours who come and check on her.

Thank God that they found her because the elderly don't hold their body temperature very well

and can get very cold very quickly

and can die more of hypothermia than the injury that's happened.

So, it's good that they found her and the crew have done a great job

and she's on her way to hospital.

Pilot Stewart Hadley-Clarke is worried about the weather ahead.

What I'm thinking at the moment, guys, with the weather deteriorating

and obviously, James Cook is in quite a built-up area,

I can't just sort of drop and fly in like that,

so I may have to divert to the airport.

Helimed 99, just letting you know that we are diverting due to weather

into Durham Tees, Durham Tees. Confirm.

'Roger. Received. They're going to Durham instead.'

Helen, we'll probably land at Great North. Can an ambulance meet us at Great North Air Ambulance?

And we'll transfer the patient there to go onwards to James Cook due to weather.

ETA, two minutes. Two minutes to Durham Tees.

Very heavy snow and freezing temperatures are hazardous for Helimed 99.

Not only is it dangerous to fly in poor visibility, but ice can build on the rotor blades,

making the aircraft unstable.

The ground crews are ready to take Joyce to hospital.

The snow is coming down thick and fast.

That's it, you hold on to my arm. Don't hold on to that, darling.

Pilot Stewart is worried about ice build-up on the chopper and he can't get the door open.

-But it's not the ice.

-Joyce, just let go of that handle for me.

-I can't.

-Yeah, you can.

Just let go. Joyce, let go for me.

Joyce, I can't open the door if you don't let go.

You need to let go of the handle.

Can you open this door, mate?

We can't get her out until I get this clear, can we?

They need to get Joyce into the ambulance quickly.

She's still cold and the temperatures are plummeting.

-She's Joyce.

-How are you doing?

It's just disconnecting now. Just ease it up, mate.

-OK, everybody happy?

-All right, Joyce...

-One, two, three.

There we go. OK? That's it. You hold on to that side for me.

With her being elderly, obviously, quite a frightening experience.

You've got to try and reassure them and put them at rest.

They can become a bit combative and that's what you saw on the film.

She was trying to reach out to get a bit of security,

but with the safety of the aircraft, she was reaching out for the handles of the door,

so we tried to contain that by holding her arms together,

but obviously, it can occupy me during the flight into the hospital by having to do that,

so it's time-taking if they do start to reach out.

We're just trying to put their mind at rest while we get them into some care.

One crew's arrived, paramedic on board, so it's literally just a case of handing the lady over.

Everything that we've done, everything that the land crew had done previous...

They'll take her off to James Cook.

Joyce is on her way to hospital, but the snow is coming down hard

and pilot Stewart decides Helimed 99 is staying put.

It's a waiting game for us, see if the weather clears, then we'll see about getting back.

A ground crew is ready to take Joyce by land to James Cook Hospital.

She makes a good recovery, but sadly, despite her flight, Joyce dies some time later.

Millions of readers and TV viewers well know the problems of working in the remote Yorkshire Dales,

thanks to the stories of local vet James Herriot.

And it remains an unforgiving environment for his modern counterparts too.

The freezing weather has made working conditions dangerous

and right now Helimed 99 is heading up to a farm near Skipton

where a vet has been crushed.

-Has this guy been run over by a cow?

-No, he's been dragged into some machinery, apparently.

That's a change from "fallen on by cow".

Yeah.

52-year-old John Marriott is injured,

trapped by a very heavy cattle cage.

We've been called to a detail just outside Skipton.

A patient has been trapped in some sort of farm machinery

and the reports from scene are that he's broken his leg.

Hello.

We were moving a cattle crush and lifted it out... It was frozen to the ground.

We lifted it and it's physically toppled and landed on both his legs.

-It's a beautiful day for it(!) Is it John?

-Yes.

-Hi, John. I'm Sam.

-Hi.

-What's happened then?

-The crush has fallen on my leg, so it's above my knee.

Paramedics Sam Burgess and Darren Axe need to get him out from under the cage first

before they can establish the extent of his injuries.

-Has he been trapped by this? Has it been on top of you?

-Yeah.

-How did you get it back off? You've lifted it?

-Yeah.

-With that?

-Ouch!

-Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

-Right... No pain in this arm at all?

-No.

-Lovely.

We're doing a routine TB test today, reading it off.

We were about to set the crush up, ready to get some animals out.

Because the crush is frozen to the ground, as we've tried to lift it to move it into the right place,

it's toppled and, unfortunately, John the vet was on the side that it toppled on.

I think we'll fuel him with the full amount, then we'll move him.

-It sounds like it's going to be quite painful.

-We don't know that until we move you.

We'd rather you not feel anything.

Is that easing it at all? Can you feel anything?

It'll take a little while for it to kick in, but it might just start to take the edge off it.

John appears calm now, but if they try and move him, it will really hurt.

-Just read that with me, sir. Morphine sulphate.

-It is...

It's time for Darren to give him morphine, a powerful painkiller.

The plan is we'll give you some of this morphine that Daz is just drawing up now,

then we'll get a splint on to your leg just to keep it nice and still,

then get you on to a hard board and get you out from under this.

All right, on "slide"... Ready, steady and slide.

John also needs to keep taking the gas and air as its effects can wear off quickly.

Take some nice deep breaths for me.

-I'm just going to move your right leg.

-Agh!

-Deep breaths, deep breaths.

Don't breathe that Entonox on me cos if I pass out, I'll just fall on you.

I'll just take off your waterproofs. We can have a look under there.

They're the poshest ones I've ever bought.

Have you got your Christmas undies on?

He was going commando this morning.

Please, God, say it's not true!

Paramedic Sam needs to see John's leg.

There is blood and swelling. It's obvious there's a serious break,

so his leg will have to be placed in a splint.

A broken leg can be fatal as bone fragments can sever main arteries.

It's vital the leg is kept still.

Keep going with that gas and air, mate. Keep going, keep going.

-Nice, deep breaths as much as you can.

-Ouch!

-Sorry, mate.

Keep going, fella. Keep going. You're doing amazingly well.

-I'm going to go private next time(!)

-This is private, mate. Wait till you get the bill(!)

What we're going to do with you now is move you over there and put you into that pizza bag.

Steady as you go.

It's times like this that the air ambulance comes into its own.

If John went to hospital by road from this remote farm, it would be a long and bumpy ride.

With a badly broken leg, that could be a very painful journey.

Just warming him up. On "lift" again then, please.

Ready, steady, lift.

-Think light thoughts.

-Yeah.

Just down a bit at the back if you can.

Take deep breaths cos it makes you lighter(!) Are we ready?

Now it's all about keeping his pain score down until he makes it to hospital

where his leg can be properly set.

-Have you got my phone, Nick?

-Yes, I have.

And rest that, yeah.

He's got a nasty leg fracture which involves his lower leg and his knee.

We've given him a substantial amount of pain relief.

He's quite comfortable and pragmatic about it.

We'll pop him off to LGI and let the doctors look at him there.

No, seriously...

It's not your fault.

-Thanks, everybody.

-No problem.

-See you later.

Many of Yorkshire's roads are blocked,

but Helimed 99 will be able to get to Leeds General Infirmary in just 15 minutes.

'What score would you give that pain now out of ten?

'It's not too bad. It's probably about a five or a six.'

-About a five or a six?

-Yeah.

-Do you want a bit more morphine?

-Are you comfortable as you are?

-I'm OK, thanks.

-OK.

Do you want me to come, bud?

No?

-You take care, sir. My mate will look after you. See you later.

-Thanks, lads.

John's legs are badly broken

and it will be a while before he's back on the farm,

but he's determined he will return to the job he loves.

A month later and the snow has set in. John the vet is still at home unable to work.

Whilst in hospital, surgeons had to fix his leg in a brace

and now he has to wait weeks for the bone to heal.

I knew from the impact, from the force that something major would have happened.

And the immediate reaction was, "I'm still alive,"

because if I hadn't moved as far away as I had, it could have killed me.

Just take some nice, deep breaths.

-I'm just going to move your right leg.

-Agh!

-Deep breaths, deep breaths.

'My right thighbone was fractured and it's an open fracture, so it had come through the skin.'

It came through the skin where this dressing is, so there's quite a bit of muscle damage there.

I don't know whether it's the bone ends that have caused the damage

or whether it's the sheer weight of the crush.

Then there's a surgical scar there from where they've opened my knee joint.

Many have a romantic view of being a vet in James Herriot country,

but in this part of the world, it can be dangerous work.

We've moved on a bit since James Herriot's days,

so although I'm working in the Dales and some characters are similar,

the veterinary science is a lot different to James Herriot's day.

I've had my nose broken, actually, before with cattle.

There aren't many weeks go by where you haven't got a toe trodden on or a kick or something going on.

There are a lot of minor injuries, but this is top of the league for injuries.

I don't want too many more like this.

Winter tempts thousands of people out of the towns into the hills,

but sledging is dangerous as an unlucky few find out each year.

'It's a female sledging incident. She's gone into a tree. Over.

-'Roger, Dave. Do we know what type of injuries we're dealing with? Over.

-Negative.'

This far corner of North Yorkshire is very hilly

and when the snow comes down, roads quickly become impassable and more snow is forecast.

-Just to let you know, the weather is not brilliant, but we're just keeping an eye on it.

-'Roger.'

-Those banks look a bit severe for sledging, don't they?

-Yeah, that's what made me think.

They do hang-gliding off it. That usually means it's fairly severe.

There's people down here on the left bend.

-Right, I've got the ambulance here.

-Got the ambulance, yeah.

-Where are we?

-Just down the hill. She hit her head on a tree.

-How far down there?

-50 metres down the hill. Hit her head on the tree sledging, so...

-All right.

-Impact.

I'll take the bag down. She's at the bottom of the hill.

A land ambulance can't get to the scene, so it's up to Darren and Andy to get to their patient

who has been lying in the snow for some time.

-This is Daphne.

-Daphne?

-Yeah.

-OK. Hi, Daphne.

Can you tell me what's happened?

-I hit the tree.

-Just coming down on the sledge?

-Yeah.

-You've not been knocked out or owt?

-I don't know.

-You don't know.

Daphne Bloomer from Darlington was sledging with her family when she hit the tree at high speed.

She kind of zig-zagged down to slow herself down.

She couldn't turn the other way, then she went straight in there,

hit Dad and slid under the tree,

then hit her head off the branch.

Stay nice and still.

I was trying to take a picture at the bottom. Slid sideways into me.

I jumped out of the way and there's a tree behind me, so she collided with it.

Daphne is in an awkward position. Moving her could potentially cause more injuries.

What we're going to do... We'll have to treat you for the worst.

You've gone with some impact in there. Was she going quite fast?

Yeah...

-'Ey up, Daz.

-'Ey up, chiefy.

She's come down on the sledge. She's spun round.

You can see hair on the tree where she's impacted head first.

She's complaining of central neck pain.

-She can move her hands and feet, mate.

-Right.

We can't put a collar on her in this position,

so we'll have to pull her out straight on to the scoop somehow.

Daphne has been stuck under the tree over 45 minutes and there's a real danger she could get hypothermia.

Time is not on their side, so Darren decides to gently pull her out.

If I back into there, spin this board round, I'll push my backside into there,

take hold of her and we'll just bring her out between our legs.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

Just bring your legs together.

-Andy...

-Yes?

-On your call, please.

-OK, we'll go on "move".

-Ready, steady, move.

-Up!

Right, Daz, you squeeze by there, mate, if you can and I'll come round.

And hold it there. Smashing. Right, you can take that blanket off her.

-Hello, young lady.

-Hello. We can see you now.

She'll take one look at us and say, "Put that back on!"

Open your eyes. Hello. How are you doing...? Good.

-Ow!

-I've got you. I know.

Directly after the accident, a passer-by knew

that keeping her conscious and awake until the paramedics arrived was vital.

I was sledging with my daughter and a friend and the gentleman shouted.

I couldn't hear what he said, so I came down the bank. He said she'd crashed into the tree.

She was under the tree. She's just a bit sleepy. We weren't letting her go to sleep. We kept bothering her.

We're going to put a collar on you in a second. I'm going to hold on to your neck where it is.

-Sorry if my hands are cold.

-Now they can prepare Daphne for flight.

A neck brace will prevent movement and potentially any further injury.

Ready, steady, lift. Right, underneath and rest.

-Use the handles, please.

-Are we spinning?

-Yeah.

The Helimed team has been to fatal sledging accidents.

Daphne's rescuers know she has been very lucky to survive.

She is not very responsive, so it's not known how serious her condition is.

Feed, feed, feed.

That's it, yeah.

All right, Daphne, how are you feeling now?

-Tired.

-You're tired, are you?

Andy is worried about Daphne's tiredness.

It could be a sign of a head injury.

Her eyes are reacting to his torch, but only slowly.

Daphne's husband and son will have to make their own way to James Cook.

There's no space on board Helimed 98.

'She's not been knocked out or anything. She's got pain on top of her head.'

She's got pain right in the middle of her neck which can be concerning.

She's got no pins and needles, loss of sensation in her limbs.

But our main priority is keeping her head nice and still, so we don't do any more damage to the neck.

And getting her warmed up. We've got a big, furry sleeping bag called a Flectalon which Mountain Rescue use

and we've got a sleeping bag inside there and she's quite comfortable.

There is more snow forecast,

but pilot Chris makes it through to Middlesbrough.

-Are you warmed up a bit now?

-A bit.

-I'm glad you are!

-Got her?

-Yeah, we've got her.

-Do you want to come down with us to get her off this and...? It'll be quicker, won't it?

-Yeah.

The snow-bound patients who had good reason to thank their local air ambulance there,

but finding people in the wide open spaces of North Yorkshire has its problems in the summertime too.

It's been a busy day. Helimed 98 is on its way back from a job in Lancashire

when its crew gets another call to go to the Yorkshire Dales.

A walker has fallen and broken her ankle in a remote location.

-We just need to consider where we're going with this one.

-If it's just a cracked ankle...

-It might be just a relocation.

-Yeah, it could be.

The problem is they're running low on fuel and pilot Chris needs to get back to base,

but paramedic Paul doesn't want to abandon the injured walker.

I haven't got the legs to play around. What do you want to do?

Find somewhere reasonable to put down, then we'll have to walk it and find her.

Paramedics Paul and Graham decide to find their patient on foot

and let Helimed 98 go back to base to refuel.

They're looking for a waterfall called Thornton Force,

but in an area like the Dales, places can be hard to find.

-This is not Thornton Force.

-It's on the other side.

It's a mile from the top where them people are over the side as the crow flies.

Paul and Graham now have to trek along the Ingleton Waterfalls walk where the walker is stranded.

It's a popular route taking in falls and great views,

but it's not a leisurely stroll lugging medical equipment.

Are you OK carrying that, bud, for a bit?

That map's really heavy. This bag's really light(!)

After a 20-minute trek, they finally find their patient.

We were up at the waterfalls and she slipped over.

I heard a crack and it seemed that she'd broken her leg. That's what it seemed like.

But whether that's going to be so when she's X-rayed or what, I don't know.

The injured walker is Christine Fisher. The Cave Rescue team is already at the scene.

It's an extremely popular spot,

but a lot of people turn out in fairly lightweight footwear,

who maybe don't do a great deal of walking.

You put that with the number of people and we do tend to get more accidents.

Paramedic Paul has bandaged Christine's ankle and has given her painkillers.

Without the air ambulance on the scene, Cave Rescue will carry her to an awaiting ambulance.

We'll stretcher her down the main footpath to the road ambulance

which will meet us at the... Mountain Rescue vehicle,

so it's about a ten, fifteen-minute carry-off.

On a hot day like today, this is a tiring trek

and not the usual rescue for paramedic Paul.

Hang on, chaps. I'll put that brake on for you. There you go.

-Thanks very much, everybody.

-You're welcome. I enjoyed that walk.

I'll never forget it.

And I'm glad to say Christine has now fully recovered and is planning another trip to the Dales.

Paul and Graham may take longer to get over their moorland hike.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd