We work with all the NHS services in London to make sure we are prepared in the case of a large scale emergency in London.

This includes being prepared for terrorist attacks, large fires, large transport accidents, flooding or pandemic flu. We need to be ready to deal with large numbers of injured people, numbers of burns or paediatric cases and have plans in place if we need to evacuate areas of the city.

Health emergency preparedness

Our emergency preparedness team work with trusts to ensure that the right processes are in place so that we can provide safe, coordinated and effective health care for victims of major incidents in London.

Our role is to:

• Provide leadership and direction to NHS organisations across London for emergency planning, resilience and recovery plans.
• Make sure NHS London can manage, direct and protect NHS assets in the event of a major incident.
• Coordinate the NHS contribution to multi-agency planning and preparedness at a strategic level.
• Lead, facilitate and contribute to evidence-based education and training and auditing of emergency preparedness at a strategic level across NHS London and multi-agency forums.

In the case of an emergency, everything is set up to establish an emergency NHS coordination centre in the NHS London offices so that activity can be coordinated from a central point in the event of an incident.

Working with London

In the event of an emergency we also need to ensure we are working closely with other key partners across London to provide a coordinated response. This includes the police and other emergency services.

As part of the London Resilience Partnership we maintain multi-agency planning and preparedness at a strategic level. For more information about this group and how London as a city is prepared for emergency situations visit the London prepared site