Brands Hill, Harthope Valley

Incident Type: Rescue

On Friday, ourselves and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team were called out for the third and fourth incidents in a week at the request of the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

Two walkers visiting the area had become lost in the Cheviot Hills; one of them had collapsed and was drifting in and out of consciousness. Confirmation of their exact location was unclear and the mountain rescue team tactical commander initiated a full team call out.

Given the seriousness of the incident, two mountain rescue response vehicles immediately set off from their bases on ‘blue lights’ towards the Harthope Valley.

Upon arriving in the valley, the team deployed to search for the casualties on foot and using thermal imagery cameras. With time becoming critical and as more personnel arrived on the scene, a person was spotted high up on the hill side by a keen eyed mountain rescuer. The teams were quickly redeployed and fortunately, the pair were found by MR paramedic Aaron Duke who picks up the story. “It was clear that one of the pair was extremely unwell, having probably succumbed to the heat. The priority was to get fluids into him as quickly as possible.”

Additional mountain rescue volunteers arrived at the casualty site with critical medical equipment. The care provided began to take effect and the walker’s condition stabilised.

The next challenge was how to evacuate a casualty from this treacherous location. However, due to the severity of the incident , the mountain rescue commander had requested a Maritime and Coastguard Agency Helicopter which was already enroute. With the sun setting, the Coastguard helicopter arrived on scene. Our team leader, Jamie Pattison, himself a winchman-paramedic, assisted with the evacuation. “We’d already got the casualty ready in a casualty bag and we assisted with loading them onto the Coastguard stretcher. To help ensure the continuity of care, we travelled with the casualty to the hospital where he was handed over. I’m pleased to say that his condition had appeared to improve. It was a great example of multi-agency coordination and teamwork.”

The incident involved 16 Team members for 4 hours 15 minutes.