On Thursday 19 September there was a training exercise held at Eastbourne DGH.
The exercise involved colleagues from the trust as well as partners from NHS Sussex, East Sussex Fire and Rescue, Sussex Police and South East Coast Ambulance Services who make up the Sussex Resilience Forum. The aim of the exercise was to test the emergency response plans in the event of a hazardous materials incident such as a chemical, biological, or radiological release. Training sessions like these are crucial to ensuring all services are fully prepared in the event of a public health emergency.
As the exercise took place during the day and would not affect normal services, trust colleagues in the emergency department volunteered to take part in the training.
As part of the exercise, a large tent was set up outside the entrance to the emergency department and volunteers were made up to look as though they have injuries from a chemical incident. The volunteers were from ‘Casualties Union’, a registered charity and voluntary organisation who provide acting and reacting casualties and patients training sessions such as this.
Colleagues from the emergency department, along with those in the other emergency services, then went through the process of ‘casualties’ arriving at the hospital, being decontaminated and showered and then treated.
The exercise lasted for a couple of hours and got a few odd looks from members of the public passing by, who were assured that this was a training exercise, and they had nothing to worry about.
Following the exercise all those involved had a full debrief, reviewing what had gone well and what could be improved from the viewpoint of each of the different services.
Bill Pepper, Emergency, Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Manager for the trust, who was heavily involved in organising the exercise, said: “It highlighted key areas we can work on in the future if there were a live exercise. On the whole, it was a great effort from all agencies involved.”
Sasha Cloake, emergency department matron and PRPS trainer who assists the EPPR team in staff training said: “Exercises like the one today help us with our learning for the future planning in the event of any kind of incident.”
You can find out more about the Sussex Resilience Forum here