Digital equipment on top of Sheffield hospital will help with mountain rescues

Digital equipment that will help mountain rescue teams to communicate better with each other when aiding people in difficulty has been installed on top of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
The Edale Mountain Rescue teamThe Edale Mountain Rescue team
The Edale Mountain Rescue team

The kit on top of the 21-storey hospital is part of a new digital radio network that is being set up by the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation to improve communications within Mountain Rescue in the Peak District and surrounding areas.

The network is an upgrade from analogue equipment, which relies on line of sight and degrades over distance. The new system will allow clear communication across the whole of the Peak District.

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A number of staff from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, including doctors, nurses and occupational therapists, are volunteer members of the Edale Mountain Rescue Team, which is part of the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation.

Last year the Edale team responded to 121 call outs to help people in distress, including climbers, walkers, horse riders, paragliders and motorists.

The current team leader is Consultant Anaesthetist Dr Steve Rowe. He said: “We are delighted Sheffield Teaching Hospitals could assist the mountain rescue teams by allowing the Royal Hallamshire to be used to site a digital repeater station. The higher we are able to site the stations, the better the network coverage is.

“This means for Edale mountain rescue team and its neighbouring teams, communications within the Eastern Peak District and throughout South Yorkshire have been vastly improved.”

The hospital’s estates team facilitated the installation of the equipment, which has been operational since October.

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