This is a copy of a Facebook page for Coniston Mountain Rescue today.
It is worth reading in full and disseminating widely in the outdoor community.
Hello All,
Hopefully, you’re all managing to stay safe and healthy through the Covid-19 pandemic.
We know that many of you will be desperate to get back on the fells and trails, and to get your Lake District “fix”. The relaxation of the Coronavirus lockdown may have been music to your ears when the Prime Minister stated that it is now Ok to drive any distance to take your exercise. This came as a total surprise to us as a Mountain Rescue Team (MRT), Cumbria Police, Cumbria Tourist Board, The Lake District National Park and also The National Trust. Simply, the Lake District is NOT ready for a large influx of visitors. The hospitality sector remains closed, some car parks may be re-opening, along with some toilet facilities, but this is an enforced opening due to this announcement to cater for those that do decide to come, rather than an invitation.
Why are we, Coniston Mountain Rescue Team, so concerned about the relaxation of the travel to exercise rules? Maybe if we talk you through what happens it may explain why we’re worried.
Firstly, we are all volunteers – most of us have day jobs from which we take time off to deal with incidents during work hours, or time out of the rest of our lives “out of hours”, and secondly most of us have families who we need to protect.
How a rescue might play out during the Covid-19 pandemic:-
1. Paul and Sarah came up from Preston, and have summited the Old Man of Coniston, had their lunch and set off down towards Goats Water.
2. Paul slips and hears a crack from his left ankle, Sarah tries to help, but Paul can’t put weight on his ankle which is at a funny angle anyway. Paul is 15 stone and 6ft 2 tall. Sarah is fit but no way could she help Paul back down.
3. Sarah dials 999, remembers to ask for Police and then Mountain Rescue, the operator takes the details and asks a lot of questions to assess the Covid-19 risk posed by both Paul & Sarah to the MRT, and subsequently to Ambulance and medical staff that will need to treat Paul.
4. In the meantime, four groups of people come by, they all say they’d love to help but haven’t got any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and must socially distance themselves by at least 2 metres.
5. The Police alert Coniston MRT to the incident via SARCALL, and the Duty Team Leader (TL) calls Sarah, having sent her a link by text for her to click on to confirm their exact position, and asks more questions, to work out the resources needed.
6. The TL then calls other members of the Leader Group to discuss the requirements and decides a 10 member group is required on the hill and alerts the Team to that requirement.
7. The Team numbers are depleted anyway, we have a number of people who contribute massively to the Team generally but are over 70 years old, i.e. higher risk group, we have people who may be shielding a family member, or at risk themselves due to underlying medical conditions that normally wouldn’t be an issue. So a team of 10 assemble at the MRT base, plus someone to run the base – this person is important as it helps with coordination of other services letting the hill party get on with the job.
8. All members are briefed regarding the incident, and check all are happy with the unknown invisible risk posed by the incident; the risk of walking up the fell is taken as read and a baseline anyway. All PPE is checked.
9. Team members climb aboard two of the Team’s three vehicles. Why only two when social distancing could be better in 3 vehicles? The need to decontaminate the vehicles on return probably outweighs the advantage of social distancing, and it leaves another vehicle able to respond to any other incidents.
10. Normally the Team would mobilise within 10-15 minutes of this type of call, due to all the pre-checks, personnel checks etc., the time elapsed thus far is 45 minutes.
11. The vehicles arrive at the road head, one last check on PPE and kit for the incident, including radios, and the Team sets off for the casualty site. Walking time to site is around 45-60 minutes.
12. The Team can’t call on the Air Ambulance for support as they’re off-line for this type of incident due to staff being redeployed elsewhere in the NHS or due to other priorities and risk factors so cannot support. Similar with Coastguard Helicopters…
13. On site, one casualty carer and one assistant will approach the casualty with as much PPE on as possible, and may well apply PPE to the patient before carrying out a full primary survey, in this case that’s simple, Paul’s ankle is (probably) broken, and there are no other underlying medical factors like a head injury, multiple other injuries or catastrophic bleeding.
14. The casualty carer and helper would normally give Paul some Entonox (pain killing gas) while they straighten his ankle to ensure a pulse at the foot and also maybe a pain killing injection. The injection takes 15 mins or so to work, but Entonox is not given because of the potential risk of contamination. However, the foot needs straightening ASAP to restore the pulse in Paul’s foot. Paul screams as the casualty carer re-aligns the foot (it’s called reducing the injury) to restore circulation and allow for splinting.
15. Paul’s ankle is splinted and although he’s still in pain, it’s less than it was and the painkilling injection is starting to take effect. Time elapsed since Paul fell is now 2 hours 15 mins.
16. The Team moves in and helps Paul on to the stretcher, the stretcher is made of stainless steel and heavy, it is about 2.5 metres long and maybe 0.6 metres wide, usually it takes 8 people to carry a loaded stretcher, they cannot socially distance.
17. The Team carries Paul down to the Walna Scar road, where they’ve asked a North West Ambulance Service land ambulance to meet them to reduce potential contamination at base. The carry down has taken 2 hours, so now it’s 4 hrs 15 since Paul fell. Paul is transferred to the Ambulance and taken to Furness General Hospital. Sarah can’t drive, but can’t go in the Ambulance either. How can the Team get Sarah re-united with Paul and then how do they both get home to Preston when Paul is fixed? What happens to their car? In normal circumstances we can fix these issues, not so easy in the Covid-19 pandemic.
18. The Team returns to base and starts to decontaminate the stretcher, the vehicles, the non-disposable medical equipment, the splint and themselves. Jackets and other clothing are all bagged ready to go in their washing machines when they get home, which takes a further 1 hour 15 minutes. Total time elapsed 5hrs 30 minutes. Total man-hours 10 folk on the hill plus 1 running base = 60.5 man-hours.
19. Paul is admitted to Furness General Hospital after a wait of 1 hour at A&E. He is taken to cubicles and X Rayed to understand his ankle injury better. He is also routinely tested for Covid-19. Paul’s ankle needs an operation to pin it as the break is a bad one.
20. Paul’s Covid-19 test comes back positive. Oh dear! Paul is asymptomatic, he has the virus but is either naturally immune or has not yet developed symptoms. The message is passed back to Coniston MRT, who then have to check the records of those on the incident. Every one of them, the ten people on the incident and the base controller, must now self isolate and so must their families, so now we have maybe 35 people all having to self-isolate. Plus possibly the Ambulance crew and their families.
21. Three days later Eric from Essex decides he wants to come to Coniston to do the 7 Wainwrights in the Coniston Fells. He sets off, and completes Dow Crag, the Old Man, Brim Fell along to Swirl How and Great Carrs and across to Grey Friar, then on up to Wetherlam. Eric puts his foot down on a rock, the rock moves and Eric is in a heap on the floor, his foot is at a funny angle…he gets his phone out and dials for Mountain Rescue… but there are only three people available from the Coniston Team now, so the decision needs to be taken by the Coniston MRT duty leader which Team to call to support, Neighbouring Teams are Langdale-Ambleside and Duddon & Furness MRT’s. The issue is, they’re in the same situation as Coniston with people self-isolating due to potential contamination, or their members are keyworkers in the NHS and can’t deploy on MRT incidents.
So – we’re asking you to think twice, even three times before you embark upon travelling to the Lake District for your exercise. The risk, however small, is real, and I write this as an MRT member for over 30 years with probably around 1000 incidents under my belt, I know, accidents happen.
Like everyone else I’m stir-crazy, but I’m prepared to wait. I’ll not put the MRT’s in danger or trouble. I’ve had to call them out for other people over the years on Dartmoor. Much as I want to walk the hills, I can wait longer.
Me likewise.
Enjoy what you have on your doorstep and discover new places.
There is no obvious end to this pandemic in the near future, death rates up again today, so we might as well stay safe and stay local.
I second that. Plus we don’t want to risk stoking resentment in small rural communities who must now be feeing vulnerable to a potential influx of masses of visitors. I’m missing the Lakes and the Dales like crazy but this is not the time. Definitely stay local.
A significant number of our population have become accustumed to the selfish entitled mentality. I’m entitled to have a barbeque, I’m entitled to meet my mates, I’m entitled to be first in the queue etc. They will have no patience with most sensible advice.
Even some outdoor friends have immediately thought of going to the Lakes this week until I pointed out the downsides.
Unfortunately I don’t imagine society will have improved after this is over.
A very sobering post – makes you stop and think doesn’t it, although sadly many people won’t 🙁
Yes I know of people who can’t wait to jump into their cars and head to the Lakes. Self-discipline for some people is in short measure in this lockdown.
You just need to focus on the minutiae and the local and you will discover new delights and feel so much better for it. Your posts illustrate that perfectly. Forget the macho mountain climbing.
I’ll still be staying local for the time being as there’s a couple of walks I want to do that are just out of walking distance from home. Went to Brownstones on Saturday, got a few photos and a couple of deep scratches on my leg from the brambles 🙁
Look forward to your post on Brownstones, it is a bit of a wilderness. I hope there was nobody climbing during the lockdown.
One young guy on his own doing a good job of trying to break an ankle or two, other than that no-one else
I’m disappointed to hear that as we, as climbers, should heed the exercise advice and not put ourselves at undue risk. This illustrates the exact point that the Coniston MRT were making – one could easily put a whole team out of action by such selfish behavior.
I would have had words with him, no doubt to no evail and a stream of foul mouthed abuse directed at me.
I wonder what your response would have been if he had needed help, it puts one in a moral dilemma.
The stupid thing is, he had a crash mat but wasn’t using it, it was several yards away on the grass. I did actually chat to him for several minutes – from a distance – he seemed a nice enough young guy, early twenties maybe, and he told me where the pond is. I suppose if something had happened and he needed help then my basic knowledge of first aid would have kicked in and I would have helped. He was still there when I left so hopefully he came out unscathed.
On that note a cautionary tale.
A strange thing happened to me the other day.
I have been slavishly isolating and not venturing to any shops etc. Basically no direct human contact for weeks.
Pottering in the front garden I heard a thump and a scream. Right slap in the centre of my drive was a fallen lady with blood coming from her head and hand.
Without a thought of viral distancing I picked her up, found a chair for her, bandaged her wounds and gave her a cup of tea.
She had been walking her dog when it had strained at the leash and pulled her over!
She was still shaken and as I knew where she lives down my lane I next had her and the dog sat in the front seat of my car to take her home.
So In the 30 minutes of this episode I could well have exposed myself to a good dose of coronavirus despite all my previous attempts to shield myself.
I explained to my son that night on the phone that if I died he was to shoot the dog at number **. Was that harsh?
Thankfully 3 weeks later I’m writing this and my dear friend is still walking past with her dog.
I think in cases of someone in trouble for whatever reason it’s just natural instinct to help without much thought to any repercussions for oneself. Considering the current crisis there maybe people who would have thought of themselves first and left the lady lying there so good for you for helping her. I’m glad she’s okay, you didn’t catch anything, and the dog hasn’t been shot 🙂
Thinking of maybe doing the walk you did once, the one to find the Wainwright memorial near Blackburn…..
Yes you would enjoy that and it is local enough.
Park at the pay and display at the southern end of Witton park. Is it open?
There are plenty of interpretation boards but the map I put up gives a good circuit.
The views from the ridge where the memorial is are very fine.
Didn’t know about this though I’ve been to Witton Country Park a few times in the past. One for me to check out maybe 🙂
Suggested it to other half , but he would prefer a walk which might be quieter this wknd, the Sabden valley from Higham. It’s in a walk book Lancashire Pub Walks by Nick Burton. Never walked there before either. Will hopefully do the Wainwright one soon.
Very sensible, your other half.
Sabden Valley is another hidden gem. Careful you don’t get too far into Witch territory.
Nick Butron writes well.
Yes I had no idea there was a Wainwright memorial until last year when I started digging in to his Blackburn connections.
I have re-posted on my blog. Very sobering. I thought I was fairly au fait but the detailed involvement described is mind blowing. I now feel guilty about walking over Arnside Knott – the summit is only twenty minutes from my house, but you never know…
There is no answer to your conundrum.
I’m sure you are OK on Arnside Knott…
or are you? Yes you could wipe out half of the MRT in the NW. That’s the worst scenario.
All the MRT are saying the same and the Tourist boards but how much would you wager on the lanes in the lakes not being packed this weekend.
I’ve just heard on the radio that the cold water swimming society [or some similar name] have raised the same concern on possible rescue problems.
There is loads of correspondence on the climbing forums on the risks of climbing and bouldering as we are let out of lockdown.
Boris has made matters far worse by lifting the driving restrictions. If he had only kept say 20 miles radius of your home.
At the end of the day it is left to individuals to interpret the muddled advice for themselves – let’s see where that gets us in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime enjoy the sun and stay alert.
Although the tale is all about Paul from Preston, it would apply equally if Paul was from Coniston. Staying local doesn’t make any difference.
I also came across
https://www.lamrt.org.uk/incidents/2020/incident/22
Last Tuesday, half a mile from Bowness, and it took 12 people to get someone down from the summit of Brant Fell. It doesn’t even say that he was unable to walk down. I can’t decide whether this means that even a nondescript incident can consume vast quantities of PPE and put large numbers of vital people at risk, or that Langdale MRT is a bit more relaxed than Coniston and a few people with cabin fever fancied a stroll in the hills.
That’s an interesting observation, David. Let’s hope the Bowness casualty doesn’t test Covoid positive at some stage.
The Langdale teams briefing is pretty noncommital as you would expect.
Like everything else at the moment, there are so many different interpretations of the truth. Just been listening to the daily briefing from Matt Hancock.
I agree staying local is not the whole answer. The BMC in their advice talk about keeping well within one’s limits and respecting the environment and local communities. Well worded but unfortunately, the public doesn’t see the potential problems.