The health of the local population is a top priority for our Trust and we take our obligation to protect health in the event of a major incident very seriously.
In complying with current legislation, Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust has a legal duty to plan responses to a range of emergencies or incidents, whilst ensuring the continued provision of existing services throughout the emergency or incident.
Large-scale emergencies are rare but when they occur, they have a significant effect on people’s lives. Through horizon scanning and planning, it is possible for individuals and organisations to reduce the effects and lessen the impact of such events through business continuity techniques.
Each team in the Trust has a Business Continuity Plan based on a comprehensive analysis, which identifies the critical services that need to be maintained. Each service/team holds a Red Emergency Folder that incorporates a number of key documents including:
- staff team contact details
- service/team Business Impact Analysis
- service/ business continuity plan
- Trust business continuity plan
- standing operating procedures to support high, medium and low business functions.
It is every staff member’s duty to ensure that they have an understanding of resilience and business continuity. Furthermore, staff are guided through their service/team business continuity plan by their line manager and made aware of the location and content of the Red Emergency Folder.
CCS NHS Trust shares plans with emergency planning communities across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and Luton. Each plan is reviewed regularly so that any new internal or external potential risks are taken into account and any organisational or technological changes are incorporated into revised plans.
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a responsibility upon leading public bodies to work together to provide a coordinated response to any emergency. The Act requires the establishment of a Local Resilience Forum within each police force boundary; CCS NHS Trust supports the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Local Resilience Forum and the Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum.
One of the changes introduced by the NHS England Emergency Preparedness Framework (2013) was the development of the Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response agenda. Developed to meet this new requirement is a strategic forum for organisations in the local health sector; the Local Health Resilience Partnership (including private and voluntary sector representation where appropriate).