At 12.37hrs early this Sunday afternoon we were paged by NWAS (GMA) Control to respond to an incident in the Salford area, where a youth was lying injured within a complex of playing fields, and the Ambulance Service expected access and patient transport difficulties. (ie they anticipated requiring our stretcher evacuation capabilities)

With a small number of team members already at our Ladybridge Hall base on pre organised vehicle and team kit cleaning activities they prepared to make an immediate response whilst our Team Leader gathered information on the RVP to head for.

In a very short space of time it was determined from scene that the youths injuries were not as serious as initially reported to NWAS, and the team was stood down via pager at 12.45. (although the ’LBH’ crew had been informed directly by telephone slightly earlier)

As no team members had actually responded from our LBH base or home locations by the time of the stand down, this incident has not been recorded within our incident listings, it nevertheless illustrates the speed with which NWAS (GMA) calls on the teams services even if a quick stand down is then declared, thereby avoiding any delay in response by the team if our services are actually required. (A situation we are entirely happy with as this best serves the ’interests’ of the patient/casualty.)