MAJOR INCIDENT PLAN - NHS Cumbria

8.8 The Primary Care Trusts have agreed to take responsibility for representing the NHSat the 5 individual county level Strategic Coordination Groups and respective Science andTechnical Advice Cells. This role will include co-ordinating and commanding the NHS withinthe county, and the representatives will need designated authority to speak on behalf of allNHS Trusts and the NHS North West (SHA) at the Strategic Coordination Group meetings.NHS Cumbria Teaching Primary Care Trust is a Lead PCT, and will represent all NHSorganisations in Cumbria at Strategic Coordination Group; both the Ambulance Service andHealth Protection Agency attend in their own right.NHS DIRECT8.9 NHS Direct provides a 24 hour telephone health advice service for members of thepublic. Key activities undertaken by NHS Direct may include:• Providing the public with up to date information on the incident• Answering questions and concerns from the public in relation to the incident• offering reassurance and general health advice• clinical assessment/triage• signposting callers to specialised/dedicated help lines set up by NHS Cumbria for at riskpublic8.10 In the event of an emergency, the Communication Lead, in collaboration with the MajorIncident Manager and/ or Science and Technical Advice Cell will liaise with the Central CallCentre at Sefton House, to ensure that NHS Direct is able to give appropriate health advice tothe public. A useful checklist for NHS Direct can be found in Part B Section 4NHS CUMBRIAMAJOR INCIDENT PLAN – FRAMEWORK FOR RESPONDING TO A MAJOR INCIDENTPAGE 23 OF 46Version 3 (Dec 2008)