Capita’s Fire Service College opens new facility with London Ambulance Service to provide resilience training

Capita’s Fire Service College (FSC) has officially opened a new, purpose-built facility for the NHS Resilience Emergency Capabilities Unit (NHSR ECU) at its 300-acre site in Moreton-in-Marsh, following the signing of a ten-year contract with London Ambulance Service.

The NHSR ECU, commissioned by NHS England and hosted by London Ambulance Service, provides specialist training to ambulance services across the country to support them in responding to a range of high-risk and challenging incidents such as a terror attack or natural disasters.

The new facility provides the NHSR ECU with dedicated offices, warehousing, classrooms, and incident ground usage to support the Emergency Capabilities Unit in the delivery of training programmes for all ambulance services in England.

The contract, worth £14 million over 10 years, facilitates the unit’s requirement that all its staff undergo training to equip them for a complex or major incident.

The state-of-the-art facilities include access to the FSC’s Immersive Skills Lab, which uses virtual reality to simulate real-world scenarios, enabling responders from different services to practice coordinated responses and a broader range of incident ground training. After extensive refurbishment, the facility is now fully operational.

The FSC – one of the world’s leading fire learning, training and emergency response sites – is expertly equipped to provide a full suite of practical, virtual and classroom-based learning and training for NHS staff to ensure they are prepared and able to respond as required.

In January, the FSC opened the new Immersive Skills Lab, a purpose-built, fully flexible learning space created to support practical and collaborative emergency responder training and skills development. Ambulance staff undertaking training with the National Capabilities Unit will use this facility as part of their training.

Hume Jones, Managing Director for Critical Services at Capita, said: “Everyone at the Fire Service College is thrilled to be partnering with the NHS Resilience Emergency Capabilities Unit to support emergency responders at such a critical time for our health service."

“The signing and delivery of this contract is part of Capita’s strategic goal to support organisations in the public and private sectors with resilience frameworks and real-world civil preparedness training.”

Natasha Wills, Director of Resilience and Specialist Assets at London Ambulance Service, said: “Our incredible colleagues across the country stand ready to care for the nation in some of its most harrowing and devastating moments."

“Caring for patients in high-risk environments, whether that is a terrorist attack, a large building fire, or a train crash, requires a huge amount of skill, clinical expertise and strategic oversight."

“We are investing in people and our patients by enhancing the operational, tactical, and strategic educational programme we offer to our NHS partners.”