South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust took delivery of 40 Dacia Dusters at Thruxton in July. The Dacia Dusters will be used as Dynamic Response Vehicles and manned by volunteer Community First Responders. The specially-converted Dacia Dusters will be deployed across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire providing emergency care in remote and hard-to-reach areas.

Those in need of urgent medical assistance in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire may well find that it is a Dacia Duster coming to their aid after the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) took delivery of 40 Dusters at Thruxton. These will be using by its Community First Responders.

Funded by South Central Ambulance Charity (SCAC), which supports SCAS by providing services, projects and equipment that are not supplied by Government NHS funding, the new Dusters are manned by specially-trained volunteers who provide a rapid response to many 999 calls where an ambulance is requested. Due to the volunteers’ locality, they can often arrive quicker than an ambulance and administer potentially life-saving pre-hospital treatment. There is no NHS funding available for the CFR programme, so all their equipment, vehicles and uniform are funded through public donations to the Charity.

The fully-liveried Dusters have been kitted out to the Trust’s exact specifications. The bespoke conversion includes additional lighting and storage solutions for such essentials as a defibrillator, oxygen, masks, bandages, Entonox and other medical supplies.

Although spread across different counties that cover approximately 3,554 square miles, the volunteers were able to meet up and share their impressions of the Dacia Duster at Thruxton. The gathering marked the first time that the new vehicles and their drivers had come together since the Dusters arrived in the country. Thruxton provided an easily accessible venue for all the volunteers and SCAC to mark the special occasion.

Luke Broad, Head of Brand at Dacia UK, said:
“It’s fantastic to see the Dacia Duster take on such an important role and see how confident the Trust and its volunteers are in its ability. The order is the perfect illustration of how effective Dacia is in offering high quality, robust vehicles for little cash outlay and we’re delighted that the Duster is the perfect fit for the challenging requirements of both the Trust and its charity.”