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National Ambulance Resillience Unit

The National Ambulance Resilience Unit (NARU) was established in summer 2011 and works with all NHS ambulance trusts in England (and those in the Devolved Administrations) to help strengthen national resilience and improve patient outcomes in a variety of challenging pre-hospital environments. The unit works with ambulance trusts to support the development of properly trained, equipped and prepared ambulance responders to deal with hazardous or difficult situations, particularly mass casualty incidents that represent a significant risk to public health.

Aside from providing strategic input to Government policy on ambulance resilience issues, NARU, working with the Department of Health, assists with the effective national coordination and implementation of the pre-hospital health response to government policies that are designed to improve civil contingencies and national resilience across England.

A national approach

Working in partnership with NHS ambulance services, NARU's aims are to ensure the effective and efficient coordination of the implementation of government policies related to national resilience and to enhance pre-hospital clinical response capabilities that are evidence-based, to current and emerging threats and risks, thereby delivering fit-for-purpose patient outcomes to disruptive challenges or threats to public health.

Through central coordination, NARU enables NHS ambulance trusts to work together to provide a safe and reliable response to major, complex and potentially protracted incidents. Consistency in implementation of core deliverables is essential if ambulance trusts across the country are to remain prepared and resilient to deliver an effective national response capability at all times.