Blue Light Hub
On Wednesday, The Prince of Wales visited the state-of-the-art Blue Light Hub in Milton Keynes, the operational base of South-Central Ambulance Service, Thames Valley Police and Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service. Continuing the week's theme of Mental Health, The Prince of Wales spoke with a group of young first responders, including blue light mental health champions and volunteers, who have recently joined the emergency and search and rescue services. In a conversation led by broadcaster and NHS psychologist Sian Williams, His Royal Highness heard first-hand about the challenges emergency responders face, focussing on mental health crisis prevention, resilience, and coping strategies.
The Blue Light Hub was one of the first purpose-built combined fire, police and ambulance premises in the U.K. The project has seen the three services relocate to a single modern and environmentally friendly facility, allowing for improved efficiency and effectiveness of the three blue light services. Increasing collaboration between the three services encourages fire, police and ambulance colleagues to work together at an operational level as well as supporting each other mentally and emotionally.