UK Resilience

Plans

An effective response to a pandemic will require the cooperation of a wide range of organisations and the active support of the public. As there may be very little time to develop or finalise preparations, effective pre-planning is essential. Many important features of a pandemic will not become apparent until after it has started (ie when person-to-person transmission has become sustained), so plans must be:

• constructed to deal with a wide range of possibilities
• based on an integrated, multi-sector approach
• built on effective service and business continuity arrangements
• responsive to local challenges (eg rural issues) and needs
• supported by strong local, regional and national leadership.

With this in mind pandemic preparedness plans from across the resilience sector can be viewed under the headings below:

• Regional and Local Plans
• Critical sectors 
  • Communications
  • Telecommunications
  • Postal Services
  • Energy
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Transport
  • Water

Aims and Objectives

In planning and preparing for an influenza pandemic, the Government’s strategic objectives are to:

• protect citizens and visitors against the adverse health consequences as far as possible
• prepare proportionately in relation to the risk
• support international efforts to prevent and detect its emergence and prevent, slow or limit its spread
• minimise the potential health, social and economic impact
• organise and adapt the health and social care systems to provide treatment and support for the large numbers likely to suffer from influenza or its complications whilst maintaining other essential care
• cope with the possibility of significant numbers of additional deaths
• support the continuity of essential services and protect critical national infrastructure as far as possible
• support the continuation of everyday activities as far as practicable
• uphold the rule of law and the democratic process
• instil and maintain trust and confidence by ensuring that the public and the media are engaged and well informed in advance of and throughout the pandemic period
• promote a return to normality and the restoration of disrupted services at the earliest opportunity.

Achieving these objectives will require the development, maintenance, testing and, when necessary, implementation of operational response arrangements that are:

• able to respond promptly to any changes in alert levels
• developed on an integrated basis, combining local flexibility with national consistency and equity
• capable of implementation in a flexible, phased, sustainable and proportionate way
• based on the best available scientific evidence
• based on existing services, systems and processes wherever possible, augmenting, adapting and complementing them as necessary to meet the unique challenges of a pandemic
• understood by and acceptable to service providers and the general public
• adaptable to other threats, to the extent that this is practicable without compromising their effectiveness for pandemic influenza
• implemented in advance of a pandemic if this action has significant potential to mitigate the effects of a pandemic and, where possible, other threats or hazards
• designed to promote the earliest possible return to normality.