Hospital prepares for major incident

Warrington Hospital is putting plans in place to prepare for a major incident involving up to 80 “casualties.”
Members of the public are being warned not to be alarmed if they see mobile casualty facilities, decontamination tents and a host of emergency staff and vehicles at the hospital this Sunday (September 14).
It will not be the result of a major accident, but the hospital playing host to a special training exercise designed to test the emergency response to an incident.
As a result the main car park will be closed on Sunday as emergency services exercise takes place.
Dubbed exercise ‘Golden Knight’ it is believed to be the largest exercise of its kind ever staged at an NHS hospital site. More than 100 fire, police, ambulance, primary care and hospital staff will be joined by up to 80 willing volunteer ‘casualties’ on the day.
The mock incident is designed to test how the emergency services respond to a major incident locally.
The main car park facing Lovely Lane at the front of the hospital will be the focus of the exercise and could play host to the emergency vehicles, temporary casualty facilities and mobile decontamination units which form part of the area’s emergency response. The post graduate centre at the hospital entrance will be used as the command centre for the exercise where senior staff will direct the proceedings and coordinate the exercise.
The hospital will be closing the main car park from 9pm on Saturday and it will remain closed until 6pm on Sunday.
Staff will be on hand to direct members of the public using the hospital to alternative parking around the site.
The A&E and other hospital facilities will be open as usual and are not affected.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to practice our response to a major incident and bring together all the emergency services to test how we work,” said Irene Melia, emergency planning lead from North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
“Major incidents needing this kind of response are fortunately incredibly rare but the NHS and its partners need to be ready at all times. There’s no substitute for testing our equipment and ways of working in as real a scenario as possible. We’re delighted to be hosting it and it is taking part at our quietest time of the week to minimise disruption to the day to day activities of the hospital.”
Cheshire Constabulary ACC Garry Shewan, who is lead member of the local resilience forum, said: “Cheshire has a long history of preparing for any eventuality and agencies all work together through the local resilience forum to ensure that we can work as a team in any emergency situation.”