In a letter to Accountable Emergency Officers (AEOs) at Trusts and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), Stephen Groves, Director of NHS Resilience has set out NHS England’s seven themes for organisations as part of its emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) exercise programme from 2024 to 2030.
This programme aims to ensure that NHS organisations are fully prepared for all types of incidents and emergencies. It enables routine, systematic testing in a co-ordinated manner thus creating a more holistic learning environment. All NHS organisations, including ICBs and NHS England regions will have to work together to deliver this programme, also involving appropriate civil protection partners, particularly those from public health and social care.
The seven themes
• Casualty and mass casualty
• Hazardous materials (HAZMAT) and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN)
• Business continuity
• Cyber and digital
• Infectious disease and pandemics
• Adverse weather
• Security, shelter and evacuation.
Particular capabilities will be attached across all themes, as well as several cross-cutting capabilities including incident management, and equality and diversity. These themes are aligned and based on the EPRR assurance model.
This programme is complementary to current NHS exercise requirements and does not replace any commitments already in place or future local risk requirements, including the previous government’s announcement of a Tier 1 pandemic exercise.
There will be a space on FutureNHS that NHS organisations can access for post-exercise reports and resources to support planning. “This will embed a system of continuous learning and improvement as it will allow all NHS organisations to share lessons and consider a broader evidence base when reviewing plans and planning future simulations,” Stephen Groves outlines in the letter. He also announces plans to hold an AEO event later this year to support officers to discharge their duties, discuss the exercising direction and look forward at other EPRR matters.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) provides support to NHS organisations for regional exercise delivery, including developing ‘off the shelf’ exercises. AEOs and their teams at Trusts and ICBs are requested to contact their NHS England EPRR regional team if they would like to support the development of these exercises or have one they would like to share.
