
Suitably qualified NARU Senior Officers are now participating in an on-call duty rota as designated ‘On-call Duty Officers’ in two blocks – one of 96 hours and one of 72 hours – over a 5 week period, during which time they must be immediately available to react.
Each On-call Duty Officer must meet the specific standards of competency which have been developed and maintained in all on-call officers in line with the Skills for Justice National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Ambulance Commanders.
Gerry Byrne, Senior Ambulance Advisor at NARU says: “The NARU on-call arrangements are a very positive step forward for the national ambulance service however they do not replace existing Trust’s, DH Crisis Consequence Management Centre’s (CCMC) or the National Ambulance Co-ordinating Centre’s (NACC) on-call arrangements and shouldn’t be activated as a first option when setting up for pre-planned events – unless the host organisation has exhausted its own capability.”
The NARU Director (Keith Prior) and Deputy Director (Mike Shanahan) will also provide additional NHS England Major Incident Control & Command support when required.
The on-call rota will operate from 08.00 on Monday until 08:00 on Friday (block one) and 08:00 Friday until 08:00 the following Monday (block two) inclusive of public holidays.
Two officers will be on call on each block with the Senior Level 1 officer the primary point of contact via the designated NARU on call contact number.