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- Title
Major incident planning in primary care trusts in north-west England: a cross-sectional survey.
- Authors
Day, Thomas; Challen, Kirsty; Walter, Darren
- Abstract
The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) requires UK primary care trusts (PCTs) to plan and respond to major health incidents. We carried out a cross-sectional survey of all PCTs in the north-west region of England using a telephone interview with a structured questionnaire. We assessed: (1) staff members responsible for emergency planning; (2) risk assessment; (3) training and exercises; and (4) the planned response to a major incident. Response rate was 61% (20/33). Twelve out of 20 employed an emergency planning officer. All responding PCTs had participated in a tabletop exercise in the previous year and nine of 20 in a live exercise in the previous three years. Nine provided major incident training to new staff. Fifteen had discussed major incident preparations with their local acute trust but none could quantify the support they would be able to provide in terms of accelerated discharges. We have revealed potentially serious deficiencies in the emergency preparedness of many PCTs. PCTs are expected to play a vital role in coordinating the National Health Service (NHS) response to a major incident and these results have important implications for the ability of the NHS as a whole to effective respond to such incidents.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; EMERGENCY management policy; COMMUNITY health services; CROSS-sectional method; GREAT Britain. National Health Service
- Publication
Health Services Management Research, 2010, Vol 23, Issue 1, p25
- ISSN
0951-4848
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1258/hsmr.2009.009014