Train crashes, floods, pandemic flu and terrorist attacks are just a few of the types of incident we have to prepare for. Thankfully these major incidents are rare, but we still have to ensure the Trust is able to respond to these incidents while continuing to provide a high quality service to the communities we serve.
The main driver of what we do is the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), often referred to as “the Act”. This legislation lays out specific duties for category 1 and category 2 responders. The Department of Health has produced a set of general principles to enable NHS organisations to develop their ability to respond to major incidents as well as manage their recovery. The National Ambulance Resilience Unit (NARU) is a recently formed organisation which ensures national resilience across all ambulance trusts in the UK.