Shropshire Star

A gardener at a Shropshire nursing home had to be airlifted to hospital after partially severing three fingers while cleaning a lawnmower. The man, 45, was taken to hospital in Birmingham.

The accident happened as he was working at the Lady Forester Community Nursing Home, in Farley Road, Much Wenlock, at 8.35am yesterday.

Staff started giving him treatment and comforted him before an ambulance crew and the County Air Ambulance arrived. He was then given pain relief and flown to Selly Oak Hospital, in Birmingham, where he is being treated.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman, Chris Kowalik, said he had trapped his right hand in the machine while clearing grass from the mower.

Nursing home manager Michelle Hipkins said the incident caused some distress for the residents.

“When we heard the man shouting a few of the members of staff rushed outside to try and help him,” she said. “He had trapped his fingers in the machine, but when we got there he had managed to free himself.

“We tried to calm him down and staunch the flow of blood and about 15 minutes later the ambulance arrived.”

She added: “It was an amazing piece of flying to land the air ambulance in the grounds because the pilot only had a small area to aim for. The residents were quite distressed because some weren’t too far from the incident.

“The man is a contract worker from an outside firm who comes to tend to the grounds every two weeks.”