Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides 'Emergency Planning' as one of the services that, until now, the public may not have heard about.

For 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Trust is ready to respond to any Major Emergency and, working in partnership with other responding organisations such as the emergency services and local authorities, to try and lessen its effect on the local community and the environment.

What is a major emergency?

'Major Emergency' or 'Major Incident' are different terms for the same thing. Nationally there is an agreed definition which sets out when a Major Emergency should be declared.

“Any occurrence that presents serious threat to the health of the community, disruption to the service or causes (or is likely to cause) such numbers or types of casualties as to require special arrangements to be implemented by Hospitals, Ambulance Trusts or Primary Care organisations.

This ranges from localised flooding which causes widespread disruption but affects just a few residents, to a terrorist attack resulting in large numbers of people being injured or killed.

But all major emergencies require special action to be taken when responding.

What is the role of the NHS?

The Hospital and Primary Care Trusts in Bradford have a wealth of expertise, which is used daily to deliver the services expected by the public. The Trust has its own ‘Emergency Plan’ which identifies key people who, in a major incident, would be called together to identify the problems and make sure an effective response was undertaken.

The Trust also has plans for individual risks such as:

• Pandemic Influenza Outbreak
• Fuel Shortage
• Chemical, Radiological, Biological and Nuclear Incident Plan
• Heatwave

These plans are regularly tested and updated.

Remember

Major emergencies are rare. It is perfectly possible that you will never be involved in one in your lifetime. It is the role of Emergency Planning to make sure that you remain safe and that, should anything happen, the Trust is prepared and responds in a professional way to make sure that the community suffers as little as possible.

Find out What to do in An Emergency.