NHB and Auckland DHBs prepare for World Cup events
The Emergency Management Team was part of a mass casualty emergency simulation for DHBs and emergency services, in preparation for events surrounding the Rugby World Cup.
Led by St John, the exercise on 30 June used the Emergo Train System (ETS) designed to test the emergency services and District Health Boards (DHBs) response to a mass casualty incident. The simulation involved Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waitamata DHBs, St John, Police and Fire services, and for the first time White Cross from the private sector.
The exercise uses a real time response around the arrival, assessment and treatment of patients, while allowing for the usual number of patients already in the hospital. It also takes into account the available hospital staff, equipment, theatres, beds and other resources as if the event was real.
Similarly the DHB waiting rooms, emergency department (EDs), Intensive Care Units (ICU), High Dependency Unit, operating theatres and radiology are also represented. These are then populated with information by the DHB teams, which include clinical representatives from their ICUs, EDs and emergency management teams.
The ETS uses whiteboards and markers to represent patients with realistic injuries and vital signs at the disaster scene. A triage area, with available ambulances and emergency personal are also represented at the scene.
National Health Board (NHB) Director of Emergency Management, Charles Blanch says that this particular exercise for the Auckland region holds a lot of value for the DHBs involved.
"It's an opportunity for them to get into a room and see how they work together, and work with St John and White Cross. This is fine tuning the level of care for patients should a mass casualty event occur for real. Quite quickly any gaps that appear in communication between the groups can be identified and corrected in the DHB emergency planning, without putting real people or patients at risk."
After the exercise the DHBs are able to go back and analyse their response next to their Key Performance Indicators with the aim of identifying any further training needs and any gaps in the emergency response between agencies.
"After being apart of the ETS exercise DHBs and emergency services are in a better position of preparedness to deal with any emergencies around the Rugby World Cup, "says Charles.
