The people behind the plans: Muhammed from Leicester's hospitals talks emergency planning
We asked Mo how his work helps to keep patients and colleagues safe at UHL - and why it's vital to have a plan.
He also explains what we can all do to make our local health services more resilient in the event of an emergency. Read on to find out more...
What does your job involve?
My job is to oversee and coordinate the hospitals approach to EPRR, with the aim that UHL's hospitals are fully prepared for major emergencies, operational disruptions and surges in patient demand.
In essence, I am the hospital's lead expert in emergency planning, managing risks and developing plans to try and ensure we, as a Trust, are able to maintain the continuity of care during unexpected incidents, by having clear structures in place to support preparing, responding to and recovering from incidents.
Give us some examples of what you've been working on...
There's always quite a lot going on, but it's all exciting!
We've recently been upgrading our Electronic Patient Record system. My role is to work with our digital and operational colleagues to create a 'downtime framework' across the Trust to ensure we can maintain patient treatment and the delivery of our urgent and planned activity during periods of disruptions to our electronic systems.
I also led on the mass casualty exercise in conjunction with our partners at UKHSA. This was a simulation, table-top exercise where we recreated key, clinical areas across the Trust to test the hospital's ability to respond to a mass casualty incident. This exercise also enabled our hospital control room to be established, so we could exercise our tactical and strategic responses to an incident of this kind, as well as considering system-wide approaches to managing such an event.
It was really exciting to get a range of personnel involved, from operational colleagues all the way through to our strategic teams, across clinical and corporate areas, and involving some key parts of our healthcare system. It was a great opportunity to improve a number of our plans!
And thirdly, I've been working closely with our security colleagues at UHL on a piece of work around Martyn's Law, which looks at how key public premises are prepared for terrorist acts.
Thankfully, I have a great team around me who lead a number of other key workstreams including several simulations to improve preparations for chemical and biological events as well as a live evacuation of an ITU!
Why is emergency planning needed at UHL?/ How does your work help to keep people safe?
Emergency planning is vital in hospitals to save lives, protect staff and maintain critical and essential services during disruptive events.
Our work can help ensure there are clear plans, processes and procedures available to help mitigate impacts during disruptive events, and a clear process to get the key personnel together to coordinate the response to these events and, when needed, share relevant information with partners to access wider help or support, as necessary.
So, collectively, we are able to mitigate issues and endeavour to try and ensure our hospitals can handle sudden surges in patients, withstand supply chain issues, and continue delivering essential care during both internal and external incidents.
How do other LRF partners support you and resilience at UHL?
As with everything, it's a partnership and we continuously try and improve on this, especially through exercises like the recent mass casualty exercise that involved partners from across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
There are system plans, mutual aid agreements and memorandums of understanding to help hospitals specifically when we need it. Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service often help us with transporting oxygen cylinders between our sites in cases of need when supply sometimes is limited, and we rely on our 4x4 volunteers to bring staff into work to help maintain patient treatment during severe weather.
Then, the day-to-day stuff - meetings during incidents to jointly coordinate the response to incidents, as well as LRF-led training and exercising sessions, which help promote an understanding of core underpinning principles and an ability for partners to come together in safe environments to better understand what each agency does in response to incidents.
What can people do to support UHL and make the local NHS more resilient?
You could volunteer with us at UHL! That would really make a difference to the experience of patients, their families and our staff. Whether offering a friendly face, a helping hand, or simply a listening ear, our volunteers bring compassion and kindness into every corner of our care. There's a variety of roles available, such as offering ward support during tea and meal-time rounds, being a buggy driver, or meet-and-greet guide for our patients.
When accessing healthcare systems, we ask people to access the broader NHS Services, where possible. So, try to rely on your GP or high-street pharmacy for non-emergency situations, and utilise NHS 111 before going to A&E as they may be able to provide advice or book a specific time slot at an Urgent Treatment Centre or minor injury unit, saving hospital beds for true emergencies.
How do you apply resilience in other areas of your life?
I have a strong support network with friends, family and loved ones. Work and life can sometimes be stressful and I'm lucky that my wife and some of my closest friends provide a safe space to share some of those challenging moments.
Mentally, it's important to take time to accept that things can be difficult and challenging, while not dwelling on it too long and trying to find ways to recharge. It helps to have a routine where possible and to have active things to look forward to!
I'm a massive Liverpool fan and I love playing football on Fridays. To a much lesser extent, I enjoy losing at pickleball to my brother and survive through running.
See more from our News pages on LRF people, activities and how you can get involved!