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.