Independent Review of Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in Health Care Settings in the UK

RCN Independent Review of Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in Health Care Settings in the UK
RCN 4 March 2021

• An independent review of guidelines for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in health care settings in the UK, and an evaluation and messages for future infection-related emergency planning.

Summary of EPRR guidance

Summary of published key strategic guidance for health Emergency Preparedness, Resilience & Response (EPRR)
NHS England 12 December 2017

• The charts shown in this document give an overview of the key strategic EPRR guidance documents currently published. For published documents, website links are embedded in the charts.

Fire and rescue service home visits to vulnerable groups

Evaluation of the impact of Fire and Rescue Service interventions in reducing the risk of harm to vulnerable groups of people from winter-related illnesses
PHE November 2016

• This report examines the impact of fire and rescue service (FRS) interventions to reduce the risk of winter-related ill health in vulnerable groups of people between October 2015 and March 2016.
• The pilot delivered home visits which focused on a broader range of issues relating to health and wellbeing, aimed to address the health risks of people vulnerable to falls, social isolation, cold homes and flu during the winter months. Brief interventions focused on prevention of falls, cold homes and social isolation as well as signposting to flu immunisation.
• The analysis suggests that to break even, every 1,000 visits would need to prevent 65 A&E attendances or 8.4 emergency admissions or 3 mid to high risk falls.
• The pilot demonstrated some degree of transferability across three different models of delivery within the FRS. However, there is an indication that implementation is more effective on a smaller scale, across a single area, compared to large scale implementation across a metropolitan area, with a diverse population.
• Recommendations relate to preparation time, targeting, data sharing and collection, training, delivery, engagement, governance, content of the home visit, commissioning and longer-term evaluation.

Operational Pressures Escalation Levels Framework

Operational Pressures Escalation Levels Framework
NHS England 31 October 2016

• The aim of this framework is to create a single national system which will bring consistency to local approaches, improve management of system-wide escalation, encourage wider cooperation, and make regional and national oversight more effective and less burdensome.
• The Operational Pressures Escalation Framework shares common actions but is separate from the NHS England Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) framework.

Preparing for industrial action

Preparing for industrial action
NHS England 18 December 2015

• NHS trusts and NHS England have been working with doctors and operational hospital staff to prepare for the potential of junior doctor industrial action. Their advice focuses on reducing demand in urgent and emergency care and practical steps to mitigate the loss of junior doctor capacity. Includes:
• NHS England guidance mitigating junior capacity
• NHS England Guidance reducing demand in UEC

Key EPRR documents

Summary of Published Key Strategic Guidance for Health Emergency Preparedness, Resilience & Response (EPRR)
NHS England 1 December 2014

• An overview of the key strategic EPRR guidance documents currently published. 

EPRR core standards

NHS England Core Standards for Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR)
NHS England, 1 July 2014

• The document sets out the minimum EPRR standards expected of NHS organisations and providers of NHS funded care. 
• Category 1 responders are those organisations at the core of emergency responseand include:
• Department of Health on behalf of Secretary of State for Health 
• Public Health England 
• NHS England 
• Local authorities (inc. Directors of Public Health) 
• Acute service providers 
• Ambulance service providers
• Primary care (including out of hours providers), community providers, mental health, specialist providers and other NHS organisations are not listed in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. However, Department of Health (DH) and NHS England guidance expects them to plan for and respond to emergency and business continuity incidents in the same way as category 1 responders in a manner which is relevant, necessary and proportionate to the scale and services provided. 
• Category 2 responders are critical players in emergency preparedness, resilience and response and will work closely with other category 1 and category 2 responders. The following are considered to be category 2 responders for health: 
• Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) 
• NHS Property Services. 

Planning for emergency preparedness, resilience and response

Local Health Resilience Partnerships: Implementation information and joint resource pack
NHS Commissioning Board, 26 July 2012

• Local Health Resilience Partnerships are a key part of the new arrangements for local health emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR).

CCG Authorisation: Draft Applicants' Guide

A number of papers relating to CCG authorisation and development have been published as Board papers for the National Commissioning Board meeting on 13 April 2012 including:

• CCG Authorisation : Draft guide for applicants
• Recruitment Strategy 
• An Integrated Finance and Accounting System 
• Emergency Planning 

Also
Have a look at the article in HSJ (26 March 2012) on "CCG authorisation requirements and timetable requirements." The article includes links to a Department of Health presentation and NHS Institute Handbook.