North West Ambulance Service Launches Dedicated Response Team to Deal with Major Incidents

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) NHS Trust has become one of the first Ambulance services in the UK to launch a Hazardous Area Response Team (HART).

The new team of highly trained paramedics has been commissioned by the Department of Health to provide life-saving medical care for mass casualties in the inner cordon or 'Hot zone' of major incidents - an area previously only accessible by members of the Fire and Rescue Services.

Operating across the whole of the North West region, The Trust's HART will initially be based in Manchester with a second team scheduled to be introduced in Liverpool in January 2011.

Each team will comprise of 42 expert Paramedics, specifically trained and equipped to work in high-risk environments, providing advanced life support, triage and treatment to those affected by a major incident whether it be a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) event or an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) event.

Essentially the HART team could be sent to a range of incidents where it is predicted there could be a large number of casualties. This could include, for example, a collapsed building, a major road traffic accident, a fire, chemical leak or firearms incident.

"The remit of the HART Paramedics is to bring specialist skills to all sorts of large scale incidents," said Joe Barrett, HART Manager at NWAS. "When there is a serious incident with many people hurt it is important that they receive good medical care quickly.

For many years, in the event of a hazardous incident, it has been the role of the fire service to get casualties out to a safe place where ambulance crew can treat them - but that delay in treatment can in some instances have a devastating impact. Our staff are now equipped and trained to effectively provide those involved in a major incident with faster access to healthcare by having the capabilities to treat casualties directly in a contaminated or hazardous environment."

The launch of the Hazardous Area Response Team will not only provide greater capacity and medical capability at the scene of a major incident, but will also free-up other NWAS ambulance crews to effectively deal with other 999 calls to treat patients who may be in a serious or immediately life-threatening condition.

Commenting on the launch, Darren Hurrell, NWAS Chief Executive, said: "The introduction of HART is a key development in our continuing commitment to deliver an emergency service that is responsive to major incidents across the North West region. It is essential that all emergency services are well placed to respond and deal with a major incident to the highest level of their capabilities, with the launch of HART we feel we can effectively do that."

The new NWAS HART crew is supported by a specific HART fleet consisting of a Forward Command Vehicle, equipped with satellite-based IT and telephone communications; incident management software; a mast for CCTV and thermal imaging cameras for search and rescue purposes; a weather monitoring station and a protected independent mobile phone network which can be set up and manned from the vehicle if the mainstream network is damaged or out of action - This will enable HART team leaders to effectively communicate with their crew and members of the other emergency services at an incident.

The HART fleet also consists of a Reconnaissance Vehicle and a Heavy Equipment Vehicle; two 4x4 Urban Search and Rescue Vehicles; two Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs) and an Emergency Response Crew Carrier able to carry a complete team of six to any incident around the country.

As a clinical response division, when not being utilised on large scale incidents, HART paramedics will maintain their clinical skills by rotating onto the two RRVs and responding to 999 calls to those in a serious or life threatening condition.

For further information about NWAS HART, please visit the HART section of
www.nwas.nhs.uk