Instructor blacks out during deep dive course - Stoney Cove, UK

[DandyDon]

Diving instructor blacked out 30-metres deep during training

A training exercise became a real-life emergency when diving instructor lost consciousness during a 30-metre dive.
Robin Norman, 72, who is an advanced diver with 18 years' experience, was in the water assessing another diver when the incident took place on May 9 this year at Stoney Cove near Hinckley.
“It was the first time anything like this had happened to me in over 2,000 dives around the world and unfortunately the trainer became the victim,” he said.
The diver Robin had been assessing, Ruby Wood, happened to be a paramedic and she got him to the surface as safely as possible and as soon as he was out of the water, Robin was given CPR.
The Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance was called to the scene and by the time the critical care crew arrived, Robin had regained full consciousness.
However, there was concern that Robin could suffer decompression sickness – the symptoms of which can often only become apparent up to 48 hours later.
It was therefore vital to get him as quickly as possible to the nearest hospital with a hyperbaric unit and where a recompression chamber was available.
It took the air ambulance just 32 minutes to fly Robin to Hull Royal Infirmary.
Robin said he felt lucky to have survived: “The survival rate for the sort of incident I experienced isn’t very high, so I am very lucky.
“Without the helicopter taking me to Hull I would have been in a land ambulance on oxygen for over two hours. If anything had gone wrong in that time the situation would have been a lot more serious."
Tests at the hospital revealed that Robin had no damage or excess fluid in his lungs. He spent the night under observation and on oxygen and was allowed back to his home in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, the next day.
It is still unknown exactly what happened to Robin to cause him to black out when he was under the water. The weekend before he had been diving in the sea at the same depth with no problems.
He will have to have a medical to check his fitness before he can dive again but since the incident he has felt fine.
Robin is full of praise for the air ambulance crew who he said had “showed professionalism beyond words.”
He is also extremely thankful to Ruby for her quick action and staff at Stoney Cove who called the emergency services and helped administer CPR.
The incident has confirmed Robin’s belief that many people take air ambulances for granted and don’t support the charities that operate them because they don’t think they will ever need their services.
He said: “What happened to me proves that you can’t think that because you have done something safely repeatedly you won’t have an accident. We are not in control of circumstances, and you just don’t know if you are ever going to need the services of an air ambulance, the emergency services or a hospital.
“Why the air ambulance is run by a charity when as a country we give millions of pounds to other less vital causes is beyond me."
Robin supports his local air ambulance charity in Cambridge. He came forward to share his story about how he was helped by the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance to help raise awareness of and funds for their lifesaving work.

 

[BlueTrin]

Talk about luck … the student was a paramedic

 

[Ayisha]

Talk about luck … the student was a paramedic

And capable of bringing him up without endangering herself. Kudos.

It's interesting that they called the victim an advanced diver when he is apparently an instructor.

 

[Vitesse2l]

This chap was very fortunate. Good to read a happy outcome.

Advanced diver is a bsac grade, the 4th diving qualification they offer and he could also be an instructor, which is a separate qualification path. Or it could be normal mixed up journalism!

Interesting that the victim was treated for possible fast ascent but no mention of the student.

 

[Edward3c]

And capable of bringing him up without endangering herself. Kudos.

It's interesting that they called the victim an advanced diver when he is apparently an instructor.

The Advanced Diver, as stated above, could have been assessing a potential Dive Leader or Advanced Diver on one of the required deep experience dives they need to get their dive qualification signed off.

I’ve taken Open Water Instructors on such dives, at Stoney Cove, as part of their Advanced Diver training.

Not all Advanced Diver grades are the same.

 

[Wibble]

Feel sorry for the diver. Probably a very sudden end to his (long) diving career.

 

[BlueTrin]

I only realised now that Advanced Diver could be confused with an AOW if you don’t know the BSAC grades

 

[Angelo Farina]

What I did learn from this article is that in UK air ambulances are run by charities, instead of being provided by the National Health System.
Here in Italy they are part of our national health system, and I was thinking this was the same in all Europe.
Well, UK is not EU anymore, but they are so proud of their NHS, and here instead we are always complaining about the deficiencies of our Italian health system.
And instead I am quite convinced that our system is one of the best worldwide, despite the criticism.

 

[Wathdoc]

What I did learn from this article is that in UK air ambulances are run by charities, instead of being provided by the National Health System.
Here in Italy they are part of our national health system, and I was thinking this was the same in all Europe.
Well, UK is not EU anymore, but they are so proud of their NHS, and here instead we are always complaining about the deficiencies of our Italian health system.
And instead I am quite convinced that our system is one of the best worldwide, despite the criticism.

The Doctors and paramedics are part of the NHS. But yes, the helicopter itself is provided by charity.

 

[DandyDon]

What I did learn from this article is that in UK air ambulances are run by charities, instead of being provided by the National Health System.

Their shore launched lifeboats are also manned by volunteers and funded by charity. Learn about the RNLI - What does RNLI stand for and more