NHS South Gloucestershire, like all Primary Care Trusts, is a "Category One" responder for emergencies. That means we must be ready to respond in the event of a range of scenarios such as major disease outbreaks, flooding, a leak of toxic substances, a major accident with lots of casualties or an explosion. 

We work with other organisations in the area to ensure our plans are well co-ordinated. A key tool for multi-agency working is the Local Resilience Forum  based on each police area. The purpose of the forum is to ensure the effective delivery of the duties under the Civil Contingencies Act needed to develop a multi-agency environment.  

There is a health sub group of the forum, chaired by a director from NHS Bristol on behalf of the chief executive of NHS Bristol. This pan-Avon group meets every two months and coordinates activity across the ambulance, acute trusts, Health Protection Agency and PCTs. NHS South Gloucestershire has an Emergency Planning Group which ensures the implementation of policy on emergency planning.

One of the important elements of preparing for emergencies is "Business Continuity" - ensuring that essential services can keep going. You can find out more about emergency preparedness, the other agencies involved and some of the issues we are planning for by looking at Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum’s website.