Major research gaps exist for how emergencies are managed in the UK

A scoping review of the emergency planning literature has found major gaps in the knowledge base. The project was managed by Andrew Lee from ScHARR Public Health and involved Steve Goodacre and Kirsty Challen from EMRiS, along with collaborators from Manchester and the Health Protection Agency. The report is available at:

http://www.netscc.ac.uk/hsdr/projdetails.php?ref=09-1005-03

Each year there are thought to be about 11 major incidents which often require a coordinated multi-agency responses including from the NHS. Interest in this topic has grown considerably in the aftermath of the 7/7 London bombings and the UK today is seen as a world leader in emergency planning, response and recovery.

The study involved examining more than 1,600 publications and interviewing 17 experts in the field of emergencies and disasters. It found that there was a limited knowledge-base from the UK and a considerable proportion of the literature was from North America. Much of the literature was not robust and there were concerns that findings from North American studies could not be easily extrapolated to the UK setting.

Many of the gaps in the literature were operational in nature rather than technical. For example, there was a lack of knowledge as to how individuals and organisations deal with risk and behave in emergencies, as well as how emergency managers make decisions in emergency situations.

The report concluded that there is a need to build a UK knowledge base, as well as find ways to use the evidence base and to learn from emergencies and disasters. Information from this study will enable research to be directed and developed to ensure that the emergency planning field continues to improve. In turn this will help emergency responders deal with emergencies better, and help strengthen and prepare local communities against disasters.

Findings are also published in the following articles:

Challen K, Lee ACK, Booth A, Gardois P, Woods HB, Goodacre SW. Where is the evidence for emergency planning: a scoping review. BMC Public Health 2012, 12:542. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/542

Lee ACK, Phillips W, Challen K, Goodacre SW. Emergency Management in Health: Key Issues and Challenges in the UK. BMC Public Health 2012, 12:884. Available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/884/abstract

 Mackway-Jones K, Carley S. An international expert delphi study to determine research needs in major incident management. Prehospital Disaster Medicine 2012 Aug; 27(4): 351-8. http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPDM%2FPDM27_04%2FS1049023X12000982a.pdf&code=8e98c1e865ed473600828a47df480146

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services & Delivery Research Programme (NIHR HS&DR) (project number 09/1005/03). The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the HS&DR Programme, NIHR, NHS or the Department of Health.