MAJOR INCIDENT PLAN - NHS Cumbria

SECTION 7 GENERAL GUIDANCE ON INCIDENT RESPONSECASUALTY ENQUIRIES35.1 All enquiries about casualties should be referred to Cumbria Constabulary who willhave established a Police Casualty Enquiry Bureau. Under no circumstances shouldspeculation take place or be offered as to numbers or identities of casualties or deceased.This may well be subject of a criminal investigation and all such enquiries should be referredto Cumbria Police Control Room.HEALTH AND SAFETY35.2 NHS Cumbria has supplies of personal protection equipment (PPE) which are usedduring normal operational issues (apron, gloves, masks, goggles etc.). Supplies would bemade available to community staff as appropriate. Staff would follow NHS Cumbria Healthand Safety and Risk Management Policies and Procedures. For each situation, including amajor incident, the lead manager for the area would review the situation and undertake adynamic risk assessment to identify any health and safety / risk management issues that mayarise that would not be covered by NHS Cumbria standard procedures. Procedures would beagreed to manage the risk during the major incident.SOCIAL SERVICES35.3 Social Services support will be co-ordinated with Adult and Children’s Social Servicesas outlined in the Cumbria County General Emergency Plan. Where additional social orpsychological support is required by individuals affected by the incident this will be arrangedthrough Adult and Children’s Social Services and Cumbria Mental Health Partnership NHSTrust.VOLUNTARY SERVICES35.4 Requests for assistance to the British Red Cross, St John’s Ambulance and theWomen’s Royal Voluntary Service will be initiated by and through the Emergency ControlCentre. Individual volunteers offering their services on a spontaneous basis may only beused in a general capacity. It will be impossible in a crisis to conduct any check of credentials;therefore, such volunteers cannot be used in any capacity which may result in direct contactwith patients.BANK STAFF35.5 NHS Cumbria will maintain a list of prior approved bank staff who have agreed to andwho are suitable for call-out.MINIMISING REQUIREMENTS FOR EMERGENCY ADMISSIONS35.6 General Practices in Cumbria may be asked to manage and minimise requests foremergency admissions or to divert patients to other hospitals. In minimising the number ofrequests for emergency admissions, in the event of a major incident, GPs will be asked to: Prioritise those patients where there is no alternative but an emergency admission; Request that Nursing and Residential Care Homes continue to provide care to patientsif admission to hospital can be safely avoided; Consider alternative hospitals.ACCELERATING HOSPITAL DISCHARGES35.7 North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust and the University HospitalsMorecambe Bay NHS Trust may seek early discharge of patients, necessitating additionalNHS CUMBRIAMAJOR INCIDENT PLAN – FRAMEWORK FOR RESPONDING TO A MAJOR INCIDENTPAGE 44 OF 46Version 3 (Dec 2008)