5, 4, 3, 2 ,1..... Thunderbirds are go! Dum dum da dum, da dum dum dum da da da da dum.....
Historically there has only been three, sorry, two emergency services (we are classed as an essential service just like bin men and road sweepers!). Police, Fire and Ambulance. Police to protect the scene, Fire to put out a fire or rescue someone and Ambulance to carry them off to hospital. This has worked reasonably well for many years. Now, however, we have HART or Hazardous Area Response Team with their riot shields and body armour, their fireproof suits and breathing apparatus and their Ambu.... oh wait. That’s right. They don't actually have an ambulance.
I have had two dealings with HART to date. The first was a chip pan fire at an elderly person’s complex where Police had stopped anyone getting too close, Fire had extinguished the fire and rescued the occupant and we had assessed and discharged the occupant. Yet HART still insisted on attending in full BA gear just in case Fire (who had packed up and gone by now) had missed someone. The second was a single vehicle entrapment RTC. Police had closed the road to stop anyone getting too close and Fire removed the roof of the car and helped us extract the patient so we could transport to hospital. HART were stood on the side of the road looking like lost little boys who had not been picked for the team. Not just one or two of them mind but 25. That’s right. 25 paramedics, without an ambulance, stood at the side of the road doing nothing. All for one patient.
I'm sure their training will come in handy when the brown stuff hits the fan but let’s be honest, during the last year, how many major incidents have there been in your trust? There were 8 in mine.
