EPRR Coordination of emergency and disaster management activities

The request was successful.

William Wetherell

Dear Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust,

I am conducting a study of the emergency preparedness of NHS Acute Trusts in England. I am using the emergency and disaster management module of the Hospital Safety Index checklist of the World Health Organisation. The study is part of an MSc in Crisis & Disaster Management at the University of Portsmouth.

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request the following information. This information relates to the NHS England Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Framework in general and section 10, “Cycle of preparedness”, section 13, “Concepts of command and control” and section 14, “NHS command and control”, in particular.

Please note that the much of the information requested is only the records of the existence of committee membership, a meeting, training and responsibilities, and activities, list(s), procedures, mechanisms, arrangements and exercises and not the contents of the membership, meeting, training, responsibilities, activities, list(s), procedures, mechanisms, arrangements and exercises themselves.

Given the potentially sensitive nature of this information, I ask you to redact any exempt information instead of refusing disclosure. This would be in accordance with guidance on best practice from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

If you do not hold some of this information then I ask you to confirm explicitly that you do not hold it.

Coordination of emergency and disaster management activities

Hospital Emergency / Disaster Committee

Any record of the current existence of a multidepartmental and multidisciplinary committee to coordinate EPRR measures. If such a committee exists then any record of which departments and disciplines are represented on it and the date the committee most recently met.

Committee member responsibilities and training

If such a committee above exists then any record that committee members have received training for their role on the committee and any record that committee members have been assigned specific responsibilities.

Designated emergency and disaster management coordinator

Any record of the current existence of a hospital emergency / disaster management coordinator. If such a co-ordinator exists then any record of what whole time equivalent of their time is devoted to emergency and disaster management.

Preparedness programme for strengthening emergency and disaster response and recovery

Any record that activities to strengthen EPRR have been implemented in the past 12 months.

Hospital incident management system

Any record of the current existence of list(s) of key personnel roles in a hospital incident management system for the command, control and coordination in an emergency or disaster response. If such list(s) exists then any record of the existence of corresponding key personnel role action procedure documents.

Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)

Any record of the current existence of a designated Incident Coordination Centre. If such an Incident Coordination Centre exists then any record of whether it has full immediate operational capacity in an emergency.

Coordination mechanisms and cooperative arrangements with local emergency / disaster management agencies

Any record of the existence of current formal co-ordination or co-operation mechanisms or arrangements between the Trust and emergency/disaster management agencies (e.g. local authorities, police services, fire and rescue services, civil society organisations) in order to support Trust functions in time of emergency or disaster.

If such mechanisms or arrangements above exist then any record of the most recent exercise(s) to test them, including date(s) of exercise(s).

Coordination mechanisms and cooperative arrangements with the healthcare network

Any record of the existence of current formal co-ordination or co-operation mechanisms or arrangements between the Trust and other healthcare providers in order to support Trust functions in time of emergency or disaster.

If such mechanisms or arrangements above exist then any record of the most recent exercise(s) to test them, including date(s) of exercise(s).

Thank you for your assistance with this study.

Yours faithfully

Dr William Wetherell

info.gov, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Thank you for your email.

We are currently experiencing an extremely high volume of incoming
requests which may result in delays dealing with your email.

We will however aim to action emails at the earliest possible opportunity.

Emails regarding Freedom of Information Act requests should be sent to
[email address]

FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Mr Wetherell,

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request will be dealt with in line with Trust policy and national guidelines and a response will be sent to you in no more than 20 working days.

Regards

Information Governance Team
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

[email address]

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FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Wetherell,

 

Please find attached a response to your recent Freedom of Information
request. We apologise for the delay in releasing this information to you.

 

Regards

 

Information Governance Team

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

 

[1][email address]

 

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

William Wetherell

Dear Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'EPRR Coordination of emergency and disaster management activities'. The Trust has not provided much of the information I requested.

For clarity, to minimise the cost of my request and to prevent the disclosure of any sensitive information, I have enumerated the information I am requesting and specified how it could be provided.

Coordination of emergency and disaster management activities

Emergency Preparedness Group

1. Any record of which departments and disciplines are represented on the Emergency Preparedness Group. (Can be answered with the number of departments or disciplines on the committee.)

Emergency Preparedness Group member responsibilities and training

2. Any record that Emergency Preparedness Group members have received training for their role on the committee. (Can be answered yes / no.)
3. Any record and any record that Group members have been assigned specific responsibilities. (Can be answered yes / no.)

The Trust has referred to its EPRR Policy and Emergency Preparedness Terms of Reference, but it has not provided these.

Designated emergency and disaster management coordinator

4. Any record of what whole time equivalent of the co-ordinator's time is devoted to emergency and disaster management. (Can be answered with a whole time equivalent.)

Preparedness programme for strengthening emergency and disaster response and recovery

5. Any record of a programme or plan to strengthen the preparedness of the Trust for response and recovery to emergencies and disasters. (Can be answered yes / no.)
6. If such a programme or plan exists then any record that activities from it have been implemented in the past 12 months. (Can be answered yes / no.)

Hospital incident management system

7. Any record of the current existence of list(s) of key personnel roles in any hospital incident management system for command, control and coordination in an emergency or disaster response. (Can be answered yes / no.)
8. If such list(s) of key personnel roles exists then any record of the existence of corresponding key personnel role action procedure documents. (Can be answered yes / no.)

Emergency Operations Centre / Incident Coordination Centre

9. Any record of whether the Incident Coordination Centre has full immediate operational capacity in an emergency. (Can be answered yes / no.)

Coordination mechanisms and cooperative arrangements with local emergency / disaster management agencies

10. Any record of the existence of current formal co-ordination or co-operation mechanisms or arrangements between the Trust and emergency/disaster management agencies (e.g. local authorities, police services, fire and rescue services, civil society organisations) in order to support Trust functions in time of emergency or disaster. (Can be answered yes / no.)
11. If such mechanisms or arrangements above exist then any record of the most recent exercise(s) to test them. (Can be answered yes / no.)
12. If there is a record of the most recent exercise(s) to test them then the date(s) of the most recent exercise(s). (Can be answered with a date.)

Coordination mechanisms and cooperative arrangements with the healthcare network

13. Any record of the existence of current formal co-ordination or co-operation mechanisms or arrangements between the Trust and other healthcare providers in order to support Trust functions in time of emergency or disaster. (Can be answered yes / no.)
14. If such mechanisms or arrangements above exist then any record of the most recent exercise(s) to test them. (can be answered yes / no.)
15. If there is a record of the most recent exercise(s) to test them then the date(s) of the most recent exercise(s). (Can be answered with a date.)

Yours faithfully

William Wetherell

FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Mr Wetherall,

We acknowledge receipt of your request for an internal review on FOI Request Reference Number: FOI202223/088.

We are currently reviewing your request and a response will be provided as soon as possible within 20 working days.

For future correspondence, please use our dedicated FOI email address: [email address]

Regards

Information Governance Team
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

[email address]

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FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Wetherell

 

Please find attached the Internal Review response on FOI Request Reference
Number: FOI202223/088

 

Kind Regards

Information Governance Team

 

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

 

 

[1]signature_2121820037

 

P Please consider the Environment before printing this email

 

 

 

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FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Wetherell

 

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

 

Your request will be dealt with in line with Trust policy and national
guidelines and a response will be sent to you in no more than 20 working
days.

 

Regards

 

Information Governance Team

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

 

 

[1][email address]

 

 

 

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FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Mr Wetherell,

To assist the Trust process your request for information we require clarification on it, although we have crossed referenced this new request with your original request (our reference FOI202223/088) we are uncertain of the following:

. Regarding question 1: Coordination of emergency and disaster management activities
o This question is unclear. Can you please clarify what specific information you are asking for?

. Regarding question 3: Emergency Preparedness Group member responsibilities and training
o Are you requesting a copy of the Trust's EPRR Policy and Emergency Preparedness Terms of Reference? If so, please be aware that there is no explicit right to copies of original documents under the FOI Act. Please confirm what specific information is required from the documents?
o Also, what information are you asking for regarding the training and responsibilities of the members?

. Regarding question 6: Hospital incident management system
o Can you please confirm what information you are asking for?

. Regarding question 7: Emergency Operations Centre / Incident Coordination Centre
o What information are you looking for to confirm this question?

Once the required clarification is received the request will be dealt with in line with Trust policy and national guidelines, and response will be provided within the Freedom of Information Act timescales.

Regards

Information Governance Team
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

[email address]

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William Wetherell

Dear Information Governance Team

My questions are enumerated. The lines you refer to are headings, not questions.

Yours faithfully

William Wetherell

FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Mr Wetherell,

Many thanks for explaining the formatting of your response.

Regarding question 3, in your notes, you have mentioned that we referred to the Trusts' EPRR Policy and Emergency Preparedness Terms of Reference but did not provide them. Can you clarify if you are requesting copies of these documents?

Please note, we have a dedicated FOI email address that is used for correspondence: [Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust request email]

Kind regards,

Information Governance Team
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
0151 600 1845

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William Wetherell

Dear Information Governance Team

Re: FOI202223/088

Since the Trust's reply refers to its EPRR Policy and Emergency Preparedness Terms of Reference, yes I would like copies of these documents

Yours faithfully

William Wetherell

FOIRequests, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Wetherell,

 

Please find attached a response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.

 

Regards

 

Information Governance Team

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust

Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

0151 600 1845

[1]signature_2121820037

 

 

References

Visible links

William Wetherell

Dear Information Governance Team

Thank you for this.

Yours faithfully

William Wetherell