Discussion paper: Benefits of a Health

Emergency Response Plan for Parish council area

Siobhan Chadwick-Armstrong

Background

High Risk Area for health emergencies

Increasing numbers of parish councils have been asked by County Councils to prepare a plan to assist with their emergency resilience plans

Model for good practice

In times of economic pressure on NHS commissioned services it is important that the Byrness and Rochester localities are not overlooked

Co-ordinates skills and resources within the community and ensures equality of access

Can form first step to a more comprehensive emergency plan

EXAMPLES FACTORS INCREASING RISK Proximity to A68

Single carriage way major route to Scotland ??Numbers of RTAs

Number of households with solid fuel heating Burns

Wounds from axes/saws

Isolated paths/ Tree fall/on Pennine Way therefore through-flow of walkers Slips, trips and falls

Inclement Weather Hypothermia

Slips trips and falls

Isolation from services

Emergency Response Time Loss of life/loss of limb

Partners?Northumberland County

CouncilNorthumberland Clinical

Commissioning Group

Public Health EnglandNHS EnglandNorthumbria

Police

GP services

North East Ambulance

Northumbria Healthcare

Northumberland Emergency

Resilience Group

British Heart Foundation

Voluntary Sector organisations

Local Businesses

Mountain Rescue

BENEFITS OF A PLAN Potential to reduce impact of injury/save lives

Training and development for citizens

Parish is proactive not reactive Could be model for other rural areas (may attract some pump priming)

Puts the parish on the map as leaders

Enhances relationships with County, NHS commissioners and providers

List of resources available within parish available to all instantly People skills

Equipment

Contact details

Personnel immediately available

Tiers of healthcare

999 (loss of life, loss of limb)

Urgent medical assistance required (fractures, wounds,

eye injury, etc)

Specialist non-urgent treatment (Cancer, heart disease, etc)

Primary Care. GP support and referral service

Home care. Colds, bumps and bruises, childhood illnesses etc

Health promotion Wider determinants of health, such as health education, community support, housing,

education etc

EXAMPLES OF INITIATIVES

Defibrillator placement

First Responders

First Aid training

First Aider register

Telephone tree

Social Media page

WHY HAVE A DEFIBRILLATOR

Following a Cardiac Arrest the chance of survival decreases by 23% per minute.. The UK Resuscitation Council suggests an AED should be available wherever medical treatment is more than 5 minutes away. (British Heart Foundation)

DEFIBRILLATOR SUPPLY AND TRAIN PACKAGES https://

www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/nation-of-lifesavers/using-defibrillators/applying-for-a-public-access-defibrillator

Nation of Lifesavers Community Package

The Community Package provides a Call Push Rescue Training Kit, containing enough equipment to train 10 people at a time. Anyone can watch and learn how to do CPR in under 30 minutes. All you need is the means to watch the educational film either on a DVD or online and some space to practise.

The Community Package also provides a PAD. This piece of kit delivers a high energy electric shock to restore the heart’s normal rhythm. They're safe and can be used by anyone without any training, this is the next link in the chain of survival after CPR.

Who we fund

Part-funding is available to community organisations such as sports clubs, village halls and community centres. We require a donation of £400 towards the cost of the PAD in each community package.

Please don't begin to fundraise until your application has been approved as applications are sometimes declined. If you're an individual who would like to apply for a community package in your area, please call 0300 330 3322*.

We also provide defibrillator only part-funding for community first responders; volunteers who provide support to 999 calls in their area.

FIRST RESPONDERS

https://www.neas.nhs.uk/get-involved/volunteering-opportunities/community-first-responders.aspx

A First Responder is a volunteer who has been recruited and trained to act on behalf of the North East Ambulance Service, responding to emergency calls when dispatched by ambulance control. They will deal with a specific list of emergencies and provide the patient with support and appropriate treatment until an ambulance arrives.

They exist in towns and villages where it may be a challenge for the emergency ambulance to arrive within the crucial first few minutes

FIRST AID TRAININGCall to set up first-aid group in north Cumbrian villages

By Thom Kennedy Last updated at 16:45, Friday, 10 September 2010

A community group hopes to be able to help save lives in emergencies in two villages near Wigton by setting up a group of First Responders. The teams, of local people trained in first aid, would be introduced in Rosley and Westward under plans by the Northern Fells Group. The team would be a group of trained first-aiders who would be able to get to emergencies in the village quickly while waiting for ambulances to come through from larger towns and cities elsewhere in the county.

Northern Fells Group organiser Anne Burgess said:“I went to a parish council meeting a few weeks ago and the lack of a first responders unit was something that was brought up.

“I contacted the ambulance service and they came to see me and told me what I needed to do, but we need to get some volunteers to come forward then begin training.

“We need a minimum of about three people to come forward to be trained as volunteers, and you don’t need to be on call all the time.

FIRST AID TRAINING cont

Opportunity for children and young people to learn new skills?

NEXT STEPS

Scope existing resourcesApproach partners

Risk Assessment

Implement plan

Evaluate planReview

Add in further stages if required

Design PlanDesign outcome measures

REFERENCES

Colquhoun, Michael C., Chamberlain, D. A., Newcombe, Robert Gordon, Harris, R., Harris, S., Peel, K., Davies, C. S. and Boyle, R. 2008. A national scheme for public access defibrillation in England and Wales: Early results. Resuscitation 78 (3) , pp. 275-280. 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2008.03.226

http://resus.org.uk/pages/aed.pdf