Regional Health Emergency Planning Advisors

Our role

There are nine Regional Health Emergency Planning Advisor (RHEPA) teams in England. We provide round-the-clock major incident support and advice within the Agency.

We also liaise closely with the National Health Service (NHS), emergency services, local authorities, utility companies and industry partners during incidents which affect the general public.

All our teams are highly experienced and trained to deal with a range of emergencies, including:

• infectious disease outbreaks.
• the deliberate or accidental release of biological and chemical substances
• incidents involving radiation leaks or nuclear materials

 

Preparation

Each team works with regional and local partners to make sure they can cope with emergencies which may affect the health and well being of the general public.

We do this by:

• advising local services on how to deal with emergency health incidents
• developing and maintaining plans on how to handle different types of emergencies
• training key personnel in major incident response and preparation
• facilitating emergency response exercises.

 

Response

When an incident happens, the RHEPA team is called out by the local health protection unit. or a partner organisation.

Each team is ready to provide:

• emergency incident management
• a dedicated incident control room.

During an incident, RHEPA teams work closely with the HPU, which provides medical expertise, and the regional environmental public health service unit who provide scientific support.

Health emergency planning teams do not deal directly with the public. For general enquiries on emergency planning, contact your local health protection unit using our unit directory list.

Last reviewed: 25 February 2009