There’s no doubt that 2014 has announced its arrival in no uncertain terms and the extreme, inclement weather and consequent floods and storm damage that we’ve seen in the UK in recent weeks has really underlined the importance of emergency preparedness and resilience planning.
By all accounts the responding agencies have performed heroically, including regular ambulance staff and those with specialist training in Hazardous Area Response Teams, many of whom are specially trained in inland water rescue and rescue from collapsed structures. These HART teams are not elite teams, but they are specially trained to deal with exceptionally challenging environments, and at times like this they form a vital component of the overall capability of the NHS ambulance service.
But emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) is about much more than just HART alone and we hope to use this new magazine to show you more about the wider work of NARU and the ambulance emergency preparedness community we work with.
If you’d like to read about any particular aspect of NARU work please get in touch with our Editor Carl Rees at carl.rees@reesps.com and we will try and include something in the next issue of NARU eNews.
We are a transparent and open organisation! That means we welcome your questions, input and feedback and will do our best to respond positively to your requests for information. In the meantime I hope you find this new look magazine useful.
Keith Prior
Director, NARU