Vivien Cleary, Consultant, Health Protection, Sooria Balasegaram, Consultant, Communicable Disease Control, Brian McCloskey, Regional Director, London, Local and Regional Division, David Keeling, Health Emergency Planning Adviser and Deborah Turbitt, Director, North East and North Central London HPU, Health Protection Agency
Abstract
The H1N1 pandemic emerged from Mexico in April 2009. In the UK, local Health Protection Units were quickly overwhelmed with calls from health professionals seeking public health advice on this novel virus. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) led the initial response and established regional flu response centres (FRCs). In London, the HPA’s flu response moved swiftly from four in-house emergency operations centres to a fully functional multiagency response centre in rented office space, working with a new database, IT and telephone systems to provide a regional response. Surge capacity was sought from the National Health Service (NHS) and other agencies. The London FRC transferred to NHS leadership supported by the existing management team to assist the NHS in London prior to the opening of the National Pandemic Flu Service. Structured debriefs were undertaken, identifying lessons for future evolving incidents. This paper gives an overview of the activation, resilience and decommissioning of the London FRC, incorporating the lessons identified and key recommendations into a toolkit for future emergency evolving incidents that adopt a regional response centre model.
Keywords
H1N1 pandemic, London Flu Response Centre, public health emergency response centres, swine flu
Vivien Cleary is a consultant in health protection for the Health Protection Agency (HPA)’s North East and North Central London Health Protection Unit. She is also the flu pandemic lead for London. She helped set up the London Flu Response Centre in 2009 and was its joint clinical lead.
Sooria Balasegaram is a consultant in communicable disease control and joint lead in emergency planning and business continuity in the North East and North Central London Health Protection Unit. She was joint clinical lead for the London Flu Response Centre.
Brian McCloskey is the regional director for London within the local and regional division of the HPA. He has maintained his lead role in planning for the 2012 London Olympics and is still actively involved in the agency’s emergency planning and response work.
David Keeling is a health emergency planning adviser working in the London region of the HPA. He provides support to the North East and North Central London Health Protection Unit and has regional and national responsibilities in multi-agency emergency planning.
Deborah Turbitt is a consultant in communicable disease control and director of the North East and North Central London Health Protection Unit. She was incident director during the response to the first wave of pandemic influenza in London in 2009.
If you wish to read the full text of the article you will need to subscribe.