29 Mar 2023
Dr Sophie Mitchinson has been announced as the new Clinical Lead with the Physician Response Unit (PRU).
The PRU is a pioneering Community Emergency Medicine service which aims to deliver safe, effective and patient-centred emergency care in North and East London. It is delivered in partnership between Barts Health NHS Trust, London’s Air Ambulance Charity and London Ambulance Service.
Dr Mitchinson is no stranger to the PRU, having spent a year with the service as a Registrar between 2017 and 2018 and holding a Consultant position with the PRU since 2019. She also undertook a Darzi Fellowship with the service in 2020/21, helping to expand the footprint of the service, improve utilisation and embed the service into the local Urgent and Emergency Care system. She also has experience within the wider London’s Air Ambulance service, having previously flown with the HEMS team as an emergency medicine physician.
In addition to pre-hospital medicine and trauma care, she has a keen interest in teaching, particularly simulation training, having spent a year as a simulation fellow in the emergency department at St George's Hospital in London.
Our strength has always been our relationship with the communities we serve and the other services we work alongside within the Urgent and Emergency Care Sector; reinforcing these relationships will be crucial as the service looks to continue to evolve in the future.
Dr Tom Hurst, Medical Director, London’s Air Ambulance Charity, said: “In the context of historic health pressures, out of hospital healthcare has never been more vital and the PRU never more necessary. We saw the service adapt to the challenges of the pandemic and, as we face new challenges, I can think of no one more equipped than Dr Sophie Mitchinson to ensure that the service adapts successfully once again to serve communities across North and East London.”
Dr Fenella Wrigley, Chief Medical Officer at London Ambulance Service, said: “I would like to congratulate Sophie on her new appointment with the Physician Response Unit. I have no doubt that her wealth of clinical experience will ensure that this model, in partnership with London Ambulance Service and Barts Health, continues to transform emergency care in the capital.
“With the help of the unit’s ground-breaking work, patients are able to receive the best possible care in the community from an expert emergency clinician and a London Ambulance paramedic. Importantly, this saves unnecessary trips to hospitals and frees up our ambulance crews to respond to our sickest and most seriously injured patients.”
Dr Neil Ashman, Chief Executive Officer for The Royal London and Mile End hospitals, said: “The partnership between our hospitals, London Air Ambulance Charity and London Ambulance Service is an excellent example of working together to provide the best possible care for the patients of east London. We look forward to continuing our work under Sophie’s leadership.”