A world class resource for the ambulance service: the NARU Education Centre

Since 2008, the National Ambulance Resilience Unit's (NARU) Education Centre has been dedicated to the improvement of specialist pre-hospital patient care delivered in especially challenging or particularly hazardous environments.

It is best known for its role in maintaining and delivering the national core training for Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART), although its remit and range of courses has grown significantly in recent years.

The Centre was awarded the prestigious Skills for Health Quality Mark in 2014 and has recently been reassessed, which is provided by the Sector Skills Council for Health and demonstrates that an organisation has met the unique health sector quality framework for learning and training—and the high standards expected by healthcare employers. The Centre is the only ambulance organisation to hold this accreditation.

Preparing ambulance personnel for some of the most difficult and dangerous responses they may ever have to make requires a special blend of good facilities, robust yet creative teaching courses, highly realistic training scenarios and above all, extremely dedicated training staff.