Agenda item

(To receive a report from Cheryl Thomson (Public Health Programme Officer, Health Protection – Lincolnshire County Council) which provides the Committee with feedback on the lessons learnt following Exercise Black Swan, an annual multi-agency exercise run by the Local Resilience Forum (LRF).  Cheryl Thomson (Public Health Programme Officer – Lincolnshire County Council) and David Powell (Head of Emergency Planning – Lincolnshire County Council) will be in attendance for this item)

A report by Dr Tony Hill (Executive Director of Public Health) was considered which provided the Committee with feedback on the lessons learned following Exercise Black Swan, an annual multi-agency exercise run by the Local Resilience Forum (LRF).

Cheryl Thomson (Public Health Programme Officer – Health Protection) was in attendance for this item.

The Committee received a presentation which covered the following areas:-

·       Exercise Aim;

·       Exercise Objectives;

·       Participating Organisations;

·       Exercise Evaluation;

·       Key Learning;

·       Exercise Assurance;

·       Governance Arrangements; and

·       Conclusion.

Exercise Black Swan had allowed participants to explore the response to a severe pandemic influenza within the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) command structure which acknowledged both the regional and national implications of such an incident.  The exercise also provided an opportunity to test the LRF Multi-Agency Pandemic Influenza Contingency Framework, rewritten in 2014, reflecting guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Department of Health (DoH).

An evaluation of the exercise had resulted in an assurance opinion of 'some improvement needed' being delivered to the LRF on the preparedness of the County to respond to a pandemic of influenza.  The rationale for assigning this level of assurance related to the main finding of the exercise to undertake a comprehensive review and rewrite of the LRFs Multi-agency Pandemic Influenza Contingency Framework.  In response, a task and finish group had been set up with a deadline for completion of September 2016.

Despite this feedback, the response to the scenario was robust, addressing both health and social care needs in addition to the wider consequences associated with the scenario.

Councillors Mrs C A Talbot, C J T H Brewis, J Kirk, Mrs R Kaberry-Brown and Mrs S Ransome attended the event as observers, on behalf of the Committee.

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions, during which the following points were noted:-

·       Members of the Committee who had attended the event indicated that it had been a particularly interesting day and a good opportunity to witness the level of multi-agency working;

·       The Committee would be invited to observe future exercises but it was thought that a table top exercise would be undertaken to ensure that the changes made, as a result of the feedback received, were appropriate;

·       Future exercises of this scale would focus on different topics;

RESOLVED

          That the report and comments be noted.

NOTE:       At this stage in the proceedings, the Committee adjourned for lunch and, on return, the following Members and Officers were in attendance:-

County Councillors

Councillors Mrs C A Talbot (Chairman), R C Kirk, C E D Mair, S L W Palmer, Mrs J Renshaw, T M Trollope-Bellew and Mrs S M Wray.

District Councillors

Councillors C J T H Brewis (Vice-Chairman) (South Holland District Council), J Kirk (City of Lincoln Council) and Mrs R Kaberry-Brown (South Kesteven District Council)

Officers in attendance

Andrea Brown (Democratic Services Officer), Kakoli Choudhury (Consultant in Public Health), Simon Evans (Health Scrutiny Officer), Simon Mosley (Chief Officer – Lincolnshire Pharmaceutical Committee), Michelle Webb (Director of Patient Care – St Barnabas Hospice) and Chris Wheway (Chief Executive – St Barnabas Hospice)