At 15.20hrs this afternoon, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted directly by NWAS (Manchester) Control for the teams assistance with an incident in the Porter’s Wood area of Gathurst / Kitt Green, Wigan, with the report of an injured male in woodland down a slope / ditch.

A full team call out page was made at 15.25hrs, resulting in three of our Team Land Rover MR Ambulances being mobilsed.

Whilst responding to this incident, NWAS (Manchester) Control constantly updated our Team Leader with details of the RVP, which was within the Heinz factory complex at Kitt Green, Wigan, where their staff had enabled the responding NWAS (Manchester) Ambulance crews to gain access via the complex, to the woodlands immediately adjacent to the rear of the factory.

An NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance, followed by an NWAS (Manchester) RRV established the injured mans location and commenced dealing with his injury.

The North West Air Ambulance ’Helimed 08’ from Blackpool Airport also responded to this incident, landing close by, and jointly working with the NWAS crews in providing casualty care.

Our first team member arrived on scene at 15.45hrs, establishing contact with the NWAS / NWAA personnel, and finding out that a 20 years old male (From the Beswick area of Manchester) was injured, after falling down a steep slope whilst out walking in the company of friends.

Our Team vehicles, BM1 / BM3 / BM6 arrived on scene respectively at 16.05hrs, 16.11hrs and 16.15hrs, with all members present attending the incident scene, within the wooded valley of Ackhurst Brook, which is within the Porter’s Wood, Gathurst / Kitt Green area of Wigan.

The injured male was placed in a full length MRT Vacuum Mattress, after having had pain killing gas and drugs administered by the NWAS / NWAA personnel present.

A short stretcher evacuation of the injured male, who had suffered suspected neck and back injuries, then took place on a mountain rescue Alpine Lite specialist stretcher, commencing out of the woods at 16.28hrs, with the casualty being evacuated directly to the NWAS Ambulance RVP within the Heinz factory, which then departed for Wigan Hospital at 16.45hrs.

Thanks are expressed here to the Site Security and Gatehouse staff at the Heinz (Kitt Green) Factory complex for their considerable help and advice in accessing the casualty site, and ’putting up with us’ arriving en masse within what is a very large and busy industrial complex. (And despite this being the 2nd time we have responded to this almost exact same location in just over a year, no we didn’t get any free baked beans!)

The following resources were involved in this incident;

• NWAS (Manchester) Belle Vue Emergency Control Centre.
• NWAS (Manchester) Two Rapid Response Vehicles with one crew member on each vehicle. (Including a Paramedic Supervisor)
• NWAS (Manchester) 1x Emergency Ambulance, with two crew members, from Billinge Ambulance Station.
• North West Air Ambulance ’Helimed 08’ from Blackpool Airport.
• Bolton MRT, 3x Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances, 13x Team members on scene and 6x other team members stood down whilst responding to the incident.

The whole incident was concluded by 18.00hrs with the return of all our team vehicles to our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ location, after our BM1 vehicle had first called in at Wigan Hospital to collect team equipment used on this rescue.