Casualty care

Specialist skills. Shared purpose.

Every rescue depends on skilled care from the moment the team reaches a casualty. All members train in Basic Life Support, including CPR and AED use. Many go on to complete weeks of additional training and assessment to qualify as Mountain Rescue England and Wales (MREW) Remote Rescue Medical Technicians, specialising in first aid in remote environments.

The team has a number of qualified Remote Rescue Medical Technicians, alongside doctors, surgeons, nurses and paramedics. An RRMT qualification is valid for three years and prepares members to:

• Assess and treat immediate threats to life, including problems with the airway, breathing, circulation and consciousness, and provide spinal protection where needed.
• Take an AMPLE history and carry out a systematic secondary survey, recognising injuries to the head, chest, abdomen, spine and limbs, as well as fractures and burns.
• Respond to medical and environmental emergencies such as hypothermia, heat illness, drowning, lightning strikes, cardiac problems, seizures, asthma, diabetes, anaphylaxis and overdose.
• Administer a range of medicines, including some by injection.

This training helps us stabilise and care for a casualty in challenging conditions, then hand them over to hospital in the best possible condition.

Every specialist is part of the wider rescue team. Regular training helps volunteers bring their skills together when a call-out takes them into challenging terrain.