Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has a responsibility, as a Category 1 responder, to be prepared to respond to a wide range of incidents and emergencies that could affect health or patient care. This could include:

• A period of severe pressure
• Extreme weather
• A business continuity, critical or major incident
• An outbreak of an infectious disease

CDDFT is committed to developing and maintaining resilient service provision and take a proactive approach to Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR).

In the event of a local or national emergency, the Trust aims to:

• Provide care for incident casualties
• Continue to deliver critical services
• Support the emergency services
• Recover from the incident quickly and embed learning gained from the incident.
• Ensure the safety of our staff

The Trust's duty to deliver EPRR is detailed in the NHS Standard Contract and the NHS England EPRR Framework. In addition to this, we are measured annually against 10 domains as outlined within the NHS Core Standards for EPRR.

Adverse Weather

The Adverse Weather and Health Plan (AWHP) delivers the UKHSA commitment under the National Adaptation Programme to develop a single plan, bringing together and improving current guidance on weather and health.

The MET Office have published free weather-ready resources which provide expert seasonal advice to help you respond to the weather and to stay safe and protect yourself.

Resources

The Environment Agency

MET Office

NHS EPRR Guidance and Framework

NHS Seasonal Vaccinations and Winter Health

Confirmation of 2023/2024 Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Core Standards Assurance Process Results

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust undertakes an annual EPRR assurance process to ensure that NHS-funded member organisations are compliant with the Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Core Standards published on the NHS England website.

CDDFT submitted an assessment of Substantial Compliance.

The Accountable Emergency Officer (AEO) for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) is Lorraine Nelson who is also the Executive Director of Operations.

The Head of EPRR for CDDFT is Adrian Currie.