The UK health service proved largely robust in an exercise designed to test its response to the deliberate release of a chemical substance. But the exercise, run by the Health Protection Agency, also flagged up areas where the treatment of casualties could be improved.
Elements of the health service’s response to the simulated deliberate release of sarin gas were put to the test during Exercise Magpie, which was held in Newcastle on 28 April 2004. The event involved hundreds of staff and officers from Newcastle’s health and emergency services, and was the first large-scale multi-agency field exercise focusing on the health service to be run outside of London.
The exercise was one of a series commissioned by the Department of Health, and run by the Health Protection Agency, specifically designed to identify ways in which the NHS response to major emergencies can be improved.
Areas that were found to work well included the decontamination of casualties in the field exercise, which took one hour less than predicted to complete. This was attributed to co-operative arrangements between the ambulance and fire and rescue services.
The exercise also showed that when the emergency plans of the wider health community were tested simultaneously, they worked well for the most part. In addition, the health service worked well with partner agencies.
Regarding lessons learned, the field exercise showed the need to:
- examine the role of those emergency services who are first on the scene at a chemical, biological, radiation or nuclear (CBRN) incident with a view to speeding up treatment of casualties on site;
- enable casualties to remove contaminated clothing faster, and provide more information and reassurance for casualties waiting to be decontaminated;
- extend the range of communications methods used within the NHS during a major incident.
Key lessons identified from Desktop Exercise included the need to: