About emergency preparedness
The PHA works with Health and Social Care organisations, government departments and emergency services to prepare for, respond to and recover from public health emergencies.
The PHA provides specialist public health advice, coordinates the health response where appropriate and helps protect the health of the population before, during and after an emergency.
Joint response emergency plan (PHA, HSC, BSO)
The PHA may be involved in responding to a range of incidents that have the potential to impact on the wider health and well being of the public of Northern Ireland.
Health protection staff are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide immediate and ongoing public health advice during emergencies.
Where an incident affects more than one HSC Trust, the PHA works with HSC organisations and Business Services Organisation (BSO) to coordinate the regional health response.
The PHA/HSC/BSO joint response emergency plan sets out the main arrangements for this coordinated response and helps ensure that regional services work together effectively during an emergency.
Useful resources:
Public health advice during emergencies
During emergencies, the PHA provides specialist public health advice to support the response and protect public health.
This includes:
- assessing public health risks
- providing advice during chemical, biological and other public health incidents
- contributing to the Scientific and Technical Advice Cell (STAC), where established
- working with partner organisations to coordinate the public health response
- providing emergency preparedness guidance and advice to HSC organisations.
Training and exercises
The PHA supports emergency preparedness by helping develop the knowledge and skills of staff across Health and Social Care.
This includes:
- emergency preparedness training
- multi-agency exercises
- supporting Health and Social Care organisations with emergency planning
- contributing to public health education and training programmes
Emergency planning and response
The PHA prepares for a wide range of public health emergencies and major incidents that may affect the health and wellbeing of people in Northern Ireland.
Our responsibilities include:
- responding to public health emergencies, including chemical and biological incidents
- providing early public health risk assessments
- working closely with our Communications team to coordinate the public health response during incidents
- providing specialist public health advice to HSC organisations, emergency services and partner agencies
- maintaining a 24-hour on call public health service
- participating in multi-agency emergency preparedness and response arrangements
- supporting recovery following major incidents.