MAJOR INCIDENT PLAN - NHS Cumbria

SECTION 4 ALERT AND ACTIVATION9 ALERTING NHS CUMBRIA9.1 The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) has the responsibility of alerting NHSCumbria in the event of a civil emergency and/or major incident. This is the single routethrough which NHS Cumbria may receive notification of a Major Incident and the possible needto activate the Major Incident Plan. The Alert call will come from the North West AmbulanceService, who will contact the NHS Gold on Call. The nominated Director will be referred to asthe NHS Gold Commander.9.2 NHS Trusts in Cumbria will inform the NHS Gold Commander in the event that theyhave activated their Major Incident Plan.UNUSUAL INCIDENT9.3 Notification of an Unusual Incident may also be received by NWAS from the Police,Fire Services or Local Authority. NWAS will provide the caller with the contact number for theNHS Gold Commander. It will be the decision of the NHS Gold Commander upon thisnotification, to assess the situation and decide the appropriate response. If a NHS CumbriaMajor Incident is declared then the NHS Gold Commander will notify NWAS of its actions.9.4 What is considered to be an unusual incident for one organisation may actually be aMajor Incident for the NHS organisations, and vice versa.CONTACTING PUBLIC HEALTH9.5 There maybe incidents which are neither a Major Incident, nor an Unusual Incident,where an external organisation, for example the Police, require information from a PublicHealth Professional. This may also include public health professional attendance at a MultiAgency Silver Control, or a phone call confirming a public warning message.9.6 Requests for public health information from the Police may also arise during the earlystages of a major incident. During office hours C & L Health Protection Unit will be contacted,Out of Office Hours, the call will be received via the Health Protection Unit Public Health onCall Rota.10 DECLARATION OF A MAJOR INCIDENT10.1 The decision to activate the NHS Cumbria Major Incident Plan will be taken by the ChiefExecutive, Director of Public Health or NHS Cumbria Gold on Call (NHS Gold Commander).When the message is received, the Trusts own internal cascade procedure must then beactivated to inform the required personnel.10.2 In certain circumstances NHS Cumbria may independently declare a major incident inthe light of events or information received. The most senior person immediately availablewould normally do this.10.3 If the major incident is declared by anyone other than NWAS, the North WestAmbulance Service should be notified immediately.NHS CUMBRIAMAJOR INCIDENT PLAN – FRAMEWORK FOR RESPONDING TO A MAJOR INCIDENTPAGE 24 OF 46Version 3 (Dec 2008)