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'Medical endeavour' excercise held in Gibraltar
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The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship RFA Argus arrived in Gibraltar last week for a routine weekend stop prior to her return to the UK.
Over the last couple of weeks she has been involved in the exercise "Medical Endeavour|" in the areas south east of Gibraltar along with the supply ship RFA Fort Austin. This was an exercise that originally was planned to take place of the coast of Norway but due to operational commitments it was shifted southwards to Gibraltar.
The main aim of the task was to prove the readiness of the embarked Primary Casualty Reception Facility- PCRF - (A three storey Hospital unit positioned in the forward lower decks of the ship) to cope with multiple casualty arrivals in the event of a supposed conflict.. Initially was the arrival of a "casualty" who arrived by "Virtual Helicopter" and then was followed through the standard procedures through the PCRF. First stop was reception where the patient was stabilized before onward transition to the CRT scanner, then on to the operating theatre before being admitted to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) where injuries were assessed.
The next step in the process was the transfer to the day wards (the ship actually has complete a 100 bed capacity medical unit). The RFA Argus departed from Gibraltar on Monday for her homeport of Falmouth for a short stop before deploying to the Caribbean to work with coalition forces. After the culmination of these duties the ship will undergo a Ships Life Extension Programme (SLEP) which will see her continue in RFA service until; 2020
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