The NHS needs to plan for, and respond to, a wide range of incidents and emergencies that could affect health or patient care. These could be anything from extreme weather conditions to an outbreak of an infectious disease or a major transport accident.
The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) requires NHS organisations, and providers of NHS-funded services, to show that they can deal with such incidents while maintaining services. The Emergency Planning Team assist our trust in these duties.
This programme of work is referred to in the health community as emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) and includes:
- assessing the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning
- putting in place emergency plans
- putting in place Business Continuity Management arrangements
- putting in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements toward, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency
- sharing information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination
- co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency.
Should you require any further information in relation to Emergency Planning and Business Continuity, please contact our team.
