East Surrey tests out its major incident preparedness

The CBRNe training took place during a two day event where emergency department staff refreshed their skills in dealing with an incident. 

Staff practiced how to correctly handle equipment, how to erect a decontamination tent, and how to assemble and wear powered respirator protected suits. Staff also learnt about radiation, dosage exposure, and how to use a Ram-gene-1 radiation detector.

Sarah Dalgleish, emergency department practice development nurse, said: “This exercise was a great success and helped us become more familiar with the major incident planning policies and procedures.

“Like all hospitals, we regularly test our plans for responding to major incidents to ensure we are properly prepared to care for patients should such a situation ever happen.”