A group of teenagers were a great help to ambulance staff by directing crews to their injured friend in a wooded area in Wolverhampton.

West Midlands Ambulance Service was called to a wooded area just off the Bridgnorth Road shortly after 6.00pm on Wednesday evening. A responder paramedic, an ambulance, a paramedic officer and the Trust’s Hazardous Area Response Team were sent to the scene. A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said:

“When the responder paramedic and ambulance crew arrived they were greeted by the teenager’s friends who directed them to the patient; a 10-minute walk from the Bridgnorth Road across fields and into a wooded area of land. Due to their being no phone signal in the wooded area, his friends had raced to the main road in order to call 999.

"Once with the patient, a 13-year-old boy, ambulance staff were told by his friends that he had initially been knocked unconscious after coming off his pushbike. Thankfully, the boy had regained consciousness but upon assessment was found to have sustained a nasty facial injury, a suspected serious pelvic injury as well as pain in his back and neck.

“Whilst the initial team of ambulance staff began treating the teenage boy with pain relief and wrapping him in a blanket to keep him warm, his friends were asked to go back to the ambulance on Bridgnorth Road to wait for and direct HART and the paramedic officer.

“Once the full team of ambulance staff were with the teenager he was carefully immobilised using a neck collar, pelvic splint and specialist multi-integrated body splint (MIBS). The boy was then carried by the team across the rough terrain back to the awaiting ambulance. The teenager was then taken to New Cross Hospital for further assessment and treatment.

“The quick thinking and help from the patients’ friends was very much appreciated by our staff at the scene and ensured the teenager received treatment as quickly as possible.”