New HART for Essex

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) has opened a brand new base for their Hazardous Area Res ponse Team (HART) on Friday October 11.

Dr Geoff Harris OBE welcomed everyone before the building was blessed by the Essex and Fire and Rescue Service’s chaplain, Reverend Rob Binks. Local MP Mr Brooks Newmark, was guest of honour and officially opened the station at Great Notley, Essex.

Attendees of the opening ceremony received a talk on the regional and national capacities of HART and saw practical demonstrations of how HART medics work at the scene of an incident, as well as the specialist equipment they use.

Rob Flute, Head of Resilience and Special Operations for EEAST, said: “We are delighted to have opened this state of the art facility. HART is a vital asset to Essex, whole of the East of England and indeed the whole country. It is reassuring to know that should there be a major incident, we have highly skilled medics who can reach patients quickly and safely.”

EEAST now has two HART teams. The base in Great Notley will be manned 24/7, 365 days of the year and will be staffed by a team six specialist HART medics, with 42 members of HART being based there in total.