Emergency Preparedness
City Hospitals Sunderland needs to be able to plan for, and respond to, a wide variety of incidents and emergencies which could affect health, patient care or the routine provision of Trust services.
Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response (EPRR) at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
Critical or major incidents can range from extreme adverse weather conditions, to an outbreak of infectious disease or a mass casualties incident. The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) requires NHS organisations to demonstrate they can respond effectively to such incidents whilst continuing to deliver critical services.
The Department of Health (DH) refers to the programme of work around incident response capability as Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response (EPRR) and issues EPRR and Business Continuity guidance for NHS organisations to follow.
The Trust collaborates with health, community and emergency services partners in planning for,and responding to, all types of emergencies and major incidents. Partners include other NHS acute trusts, Sunderland City Council, North East Ambulance Service, Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS England, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, Northumbria Police and a range of other responding organisations.
In the event of an emergency, the Trust aims to:
- continue to deliver critical services;
- support the emergency services;
- support other NHS organisations;
- look after casualties from the incident; and
- Recover as quickly as possible and learn from the incident, incorporating that learning into future plans
In order to ensure the Trust can mount an effective response to incidents when they occur, the Trust has:
- an EPRR training and exercising programme;
- plans for a variety of incident types (for example flu pandemic, mass casualties incident, systems failures, and increased demand for services);
- assessed the risk of various types of incident occurring; and
- robust working partnerships with other agencies
Civil Contingencies Act (2004)
The Civil Contingencies Act sets out clear roles and responsibilities for all agencies involved in civil response to emergencies.
Category 1 responders such as acute NHS trusts like City Hospitals Sunderland, the police, ambulance services, and local authorities are at the core of emergency response. Their duties under the Civil Contingencies Act include:
- having emergency response plans in place;
- warning , informing and advising the public in the event of an emergency;
- sharing relevant and appropriate information with other responders as necessary in order to enhance coordinated response;
- co-operating with other responders; and
- maintaining business continuity management arrangements.
Emergency Preparedness at City Hospitals Sunderland
Our staff play a vital role in ensuring the Trust response to any incident will be professional and effective. Director of Corporate Affairs, Carol Harries, is the Trust’s Accountable Emergency Officer (AEO) and is supported in this role by Christine Bullmore, the Emergency Planning Lead.
The Trust EPRR programme is overseen by the Trust Major Incident Group which meets quarterly and reports to the Board of Directors.
For any further information contact Christine Bullmore (Christine.bullmore@chsft.nhs.uk) Tel 0191 5699639
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City Hospitals Sunderland operates from 5 main sites while offering outreach services at a number of other locations.
