17 Apr 2024
Throughout 2023, the Physician Response Unit (PRU) treated 3,872 patients in North East London: bringing the emergency department to the patient.
The PRU is a pioneering Community Emergency Medicine service which aims to deliver safe, effective and patient-centred emergency care, often in the patient’s own home.
Operating in an emergency response car, the total of 3,872 patients for the year means on average the team attended to 11 jobs per day, with the highest number of jobs in one day being 20.
The three most attended boroughs were Newham (with 842 patients), Waltham Forest (742 patients) and Tower Hamlets (724 patients). We have also recently updated the mission map that details our helicopter emergency medical service’s missions for the year – you can explore the interactive map here.
In terms of the chief complaint that resulted in the PRU being dispatched, difficulty breathing was the most common, resulting in 413 dispatches. Clouded consciousness was the reason the PRU visited 296 patients and fever for 252 patients.
The PRU is run by London’s Air Ambulance alongside the helicopter emergency medical service, both operating on the same principle – taking the hospital to the patient. In 2023, the helicopter emergency medical service attended 2,007 patients. Our annual report details the mechanisms of injury that resulted in these patients and you can read this report here.
The PRU strives to promote a shared decision-making model which empowers patients and facilitates clinicians to identify the right care, in the right place and at the right time for that particular patient. If you would like to learn more about the PRU and how it is run, please click here.
