Health services management research : an official journal of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration
-
Health Serv Manage Res · Feb 2010
Major incident planning in primary care trusts in north-west England: a cross-sectional survey.
The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) requires UK primary care trusts (PCTs) to plan and respond to major health incidents. We carried out a cross-sectional survey of all PCTs in the north-west region of England using a telephone interview with a structured questionnaire. We assessed: (1) staff members responsible for emergency planning; (2) risk assessment; (3) training and exercises; and (4) the planned response to a major incident. ⋯ Fifteen had discussed major incident preparations with their local acute trust but none could quantify the support they would be able to provide in terms of accelerated discharges. We have revealed potentially serious deficiencies in the emergency preparedness of many PCTs. PCTs are expected to play a vital role in coordinating the National Health Service (NHS) response to a major incident and these results have important implications for the ability of the NHS as a whole to effective respond to such incidents.