25 Oct 2022
London’s Air Ambulance Charity has announced that the Physician Response Unit (PRU) wing of the service has launched a third team.
As a result, the geographical footprint of the PRU will expand to cover Barking, Havering and Redbridge, alongside the existing operations in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest.
The PRU is a pioneering Community Emergency Medicine service which aims to deliver safe, effective and patient-centred emergency care via car in North East London. It is delivered in partnership with Barts Health NHS Trust, London’s Air Ambulance Charity and the London Ambulance Service.
Earlier this year, the PRU celebrated 20 years of operation. The service sees patients of all ages with all types of emergency presentations ranging from critically unwell patients to those with minor injuries or acute illnesses that benefit from the emergency department being taken out to the patient. At present the operating model of the PRU involves a rapid response vehicle, senior emergency medicine doctor and ambulance clinician which attend emergency calls in the pre-hospital environment. The vehicle carries an extensive kit consisting of diagnostic equipment and in effect brings the hospital to the patient – rather than the other way around.
In addition to expanding the geographic footprint of the service, the addition of the third car will help reach a wider range of patients and ensure that the service continues to bring out-of-hospital care to people in need across Northeast London.
I’d like to thank everyone at Barts, London's Air Ambulance, and London Ambulance Service for helping get the new car rolled out and supporting patients across Northeast London.
