Initially received by Andy Simpson, Team Leader of Rossendale and Pendle MRT, and passed on to our team, in whose area this incident lay, the team was requested by NWAS (Lancashire) to assist at a residential address in Darwen, where access problems had been reported including an iced up snow covered steep road, to a residential property where a patient was awaiting an urgent hospital referral on the advice of her attending care nurse.

A full team call out message was paged at 14.21hrs to which nine team members and one team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance responded, despite local difficulties with slow moving and heavy traffic due to wintry road conditions. (A further three team members were stood down responding, as not required on scene)

Our first team member arrived on scene at 14.51hrs, and liaised with the responding Emergency Ambulance crew, who were then called away to another priority incident, with the 70 year old woman concerned, being stable on scene on oxygen therapy awaiting the arrival of the rest of the team to carry her to the next responding NWAS Emergency Ambulance.

By 15.38hrs, with assistance rendered to the second responding NWAS Emergency Ambulance crew, the woman involved who was suffering from a medical condition, was safely and warmly in the NWAS Ambulance and on her way to Blackburn Hospital.