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The devolved administrations are responsible for the major areas of pandemic influenza planning and response in their respective countries.
This section provides information on pandemic flu preparedness arrangements in the Devolved Administrations.
Managing the impact of a pandemic presents us with unique and difficult challenges if we are to save lives and keep our society running. The Scottish Government has been working very hard to meet these challenges both across Scotland and as part of the wider UK planning.
The majority of emergency preparedness work in Scotland is conducted at a local level, and carried forward by Strategic Co-ordinating Groups which comprise key local responders in each of Scotland’s eight police force areas. This is backed by a range of work underway at a national level to support these local planning arrangements.
The Scottish framework sets out the Scottish Government's strategic approach to dealing with an influenza pandemic, provides information on the potential impact, sets out key planning assumptions and proposes a planning framework. It updates the UK health departments’ UK Influenza Pandemic Contingency Plan, published in October 2005, expanding it to illustrate the breadth of planning across many different sectors.
This framework alongside other guidance and planning activities for Scotland can be found at:
The Wales Pandemic Influenza Response Arrangements sets out the pan-Wales response arrangements that will be put in place to co-ordinate the response to an influenza pandemic in Wales. This document, along with individual LRF multi-agency pandemic influenza response plans, will be available on this site from 31st March 2008 following a review process. In the meantime, the Welsh Assembly Government website contains information explaining pandemic flu, why we are planning for it, and what we are doing now to minimise any future impact.
The Local Resilience Forums (LRFs), based on the Police force areas of South Wales, North Wales, Dyfed-Powys and Gwent, provide the statutory basis for multi-agency planning for an influenza pandemic in Wales. Guidance has been issued to support this work in the form of the Wales Framework for Managing Major Infectious Disease Emergencies. This document focuses on the need for organisations to have robust business continuity arrangements in place and to engage in co-ordinated multi-agency planning to implement any social measures that may be recommended, provide for integrated working with health services on areas such as the use of medical countermeasures, plan for handling excess deaths and prepare for any wider impacts. Through the LRF structure there is also a mechanism for establishing the progress being made with local planning and for testing plans. The Wales Resilience Forum, chaired by the First Minister for Wales, provides the mechanism for a national multi-agency overview of pandemic preparedness in Wales.
Northern Ireland has an integrated system for the delivery of health and social services. The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) sets the strategic direction and allocates the annual budget for health and social care services. Responsibility for commissioning services, resource management, performance management and service improvement lies with the Health and Social Care Board. Responsibility for delivery of services lies with five Health and Social Care Trusts, which currently provide hospital-based services and community services, and a single ambulance trust for the region.
The Public Health Agency has responsibility for health protection, screening, health improvement and development to improve overall public health and address existing health inequalities.
DHSSPS takes the lead in regional contingency planning for pandemic influenza and is represented in national UK pandemic planning structures by its senior medical officer. Pandemic planning work is progressed through a Regional Pandemic Flu Steering Group. Each Health and Social Care Trust has identified ‘flu leads’, who oversee planning for their respective organisation.
The Northern Ireland Contingency Plan for Health Response for an Influenza Pandemic outlines the strategic approach to and preparations for an influenza pandemic. It provides general information on the likely impact and sets out some of the key assumptions for use in response planning.
Information on Pandemic Influenza planning including the Northern Ireland Contingency Plan for Health Response for an Influenza Pandemic can be found on the DHSSPS website [External website], which is currently under review:
Futher information is also available at the PHA website [External website].
General enquiries: Cabinet Office, 22 Whitehall, London SW1A 2WH.
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