Planning and preparation

The NHS needs to be able to plan for and respond to a wide range of incidents and emergencies which could affect health or patient care. This work is referred to in the health service as emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) and our Emergency Planning team will work closely with many other agencies and organisations in the planning, preparation for and management of these types of incidents.

Preparing for an emergency

How would you prepare for an emergency?
In a newly launched website, the government is encouraging people to think about what they would do if they and those around them were exposed to risks ranging from floods to fires to power cuts.

The website provides simple and effective steps people can take to be more prepared, at gov.uk/prepare.

Taking action in advance will make it easier to manage an emergency if it does happen. The site is designed for residents in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also provide advice for their residents.

Five simple things you can do now
1. Find out if you are eligible to sign up to your gas, electricity and water supplier’s Priority Service Registers, so
companies know that you need additional support.
2. Set a reminder in your phone or make a note on your calendar to check your smoke alarm once a month.
3. Write down important phone numbers on paper such as the number to report a power cut (105) and the numbers
of anyone you might want to contact in an emergency.
4. Talk to your children about how and when to call 999 and what they should do if there’s an emergency, such as a
fire at home.
5. Check your long term flood risk and sign up for flood and weather warnings.

Community Risk Register

The Northamptonshire Local Resilience Forum has a duty under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to produce a Community Risk Register (CRR). This document highlights risks that have the highest likelihood and potential to have significant impact to local communities resulting in wide scale disruption.

The purpose of the Community Risk Register is to:

  • inform you about the highest risks in the county and their consequences
  • detail steps that can be taken to become better prepared and more resilient in your home, business and community
  • provide you with links to organisations and websites to find out more information

While certain risks are mentioned it does not mean that they will definitely occur in the County. It means there is a possibility of them happening and therefore all agencies within the local resilience forum have plans in place to respond to such incidents.

The Community Risk Register is the result of professional judgement from a range of contributors, historical evidence, scientific input and expert analysis in evaluating the key risks facing Northamptonshire.

Why it is relevant to you

The Community Risk Register identifies the risks that have the highest likelihood of happening in Northamptonshire.

Being aware of these and the consequences of these incidents will help you to be prepared should such an incident occur. Some may be more relevant to you than others, for example, if you live near a river, flooding is more likely to affect you. We have seen in previous years that flash flooding can happen anywhere and affect people’s homes, so it is useful for everyone to be aware of what to do.

Other consequences, such as a power cut, could affect any of us at any time, so being prepared is vital. You can also help others in your local community who are less able to help themselves.

Community Risk Register 2024.pdf[pdf] 20MB

Further information

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