The South West has HART

Hazardous Area Response Team launches in the South West

From Thursday 15th March the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) now has a Hazardous Area Response Team (HART). The team comprises 42 ambulance paramedics who have undergone extensive, additional training and are able to triage and treat patients under hazardous and potentially contaminated conditions.

The team work in shifts and are available for deployment seven days a week, around the clock. As well as being deployed locally and regionally across the Trust area, they are also available to be dispatched to incidents across the country. From their base in Exeter, a duty watch (or shift) of HART staff comprises five paramedics and a Team Leader (Clinical Support Officer) level.

In terms of mobilisation, the HART will be dispatched via the Trust Clinical Hubs (Control Rooms). Alternatively, their attendance may be requested by a partner agency. The sort of triggers which may warrant a HART response include; patients trapped in collapsed structures, incidents involving multiple casualties, urban search and rescue, flood water, and incidents involving hazardous materials.  

The SWASFT HART is also one of the first in the UK to receive specialist Response Convoy Driver Training. The need for this training has arisen because potentially there is a need for multiple resources to respond to incidents together.

The course is delivered by qualified instructors, and has been adapted from police services protocol, and allows up to four vehicles to respond safely to the scene of an incident whilst causing minimal disruption to other road users.

Stuart Blatston, the Trust’s HART Manager is confident that having the team in place will make a difference and said: “Introducing HARTs across the country is an excellent initiative. They are provided at no cost to the individual ambulance Trusts and can make a real difference. Having been involved with three separate HARTs, I am confident in saying that they do save lives and reduce suffering”.

“HART paramedics train in a wide variety of scenarios and under some challenging conditions and often in partnership with colleagues from police and fire services. The team is equipped with a range of specialist equipment and vehicles which enable the paramedics to carry out their work as safely as possible.”