Building resilience: The experience of an English health authority

2001 was a watershed year for emergency planning. In the United Kingdom 3 national crises - protests over fuel prices, a foot and mouth outbreak and floods - exposed the complexity and weaknesses of legislation underpinning civil emergency planning, much of it dating back to the First and Second World Wars. The emergence of a global terrorist threat added urgency to the call for change. In 2004 the British government passed new legislation, the Civil Contingencies Act, which provides a single statutory framework for civil protection in the United Kingdom. Within 12 months of the Act coming into force all agencies involved in emergency planning were required to restructure their co-operation mechanisms, complete a Community Risk Register (and risk assessment processes), update their generic emergency plan, develop a business continuity plan, and establish agreed arrangements for informing and warning the public. Planning would be undertaken at the level of police force area under the command of the Chief Constable. As Director of Public Health and Lead for Health Emergency Planning in Kent I led the health response to the legislation reorganising local health emergency planning arrangements, updating generic plans and submitting the health contribution to the Community Risk Register. I also took the opportunity to review our response arrangements and introduced a novel first line emergency response system for health (the Emergency Response Management Team). Subsequent events, including the 7/7 bombings in London, demonstrated the effectiveness of the new arrangements and enhanced our credibility with key partners, especially the police.