Major Emergency
The Emergency Department is at the forefront of planning for Major Emergencies that may occur. The ED is a major contributor by way of its Emergency Response team to the overall Major Emergency Plan for CUH. The ED emergency response team is regularly involved in training of staff, updating its equipment, testing its plans and attending training courses with all the other principal emergency response agencies.
1. Aim
To establish the framework of response in the event of a major emergency involving the emergency department and Cork University Hospital.
2. Definition of a Major Emergency
For the purpose of this plan, a major emergency is any event which, usually with little or no warning, causes or threatens death or injury, serious disruption of essential services or damage to property, the environment or infrastructure beyond the normal capabilities of the principal emergency services in the area in which the event occurs, and requiring the activation of specific additional procedures to ensure effective, co-ordinated response.
The ED has developed its own internal Major Emergency Plan which will hopefully be published in the New Year.
Within the emergency department we have our own decontamination unit which can be used to decontaminate patients in the event of a chemical or biological incident occurring in this area. The department has undertaken the training of staff to deal with emergencies of this type and a policy document has been drawn up for the decontamination of a patient with Chemical or biological agent exposure.
>>ED Handbook