Inter agency planning produces many benefits and positive outcomes which enhance the effectiveness of the services and the organisations involved in the planning process. This in turn benefits the public as their holistic needs are met due to the variety of organisations involved in the inter agency approach such as the police, ambulance the district councils and the health & social care trust. The diverse range of useful resources, including equipment, skills and Knowledge, with inters agency planning all of the community’s needs are meat. The health and social care trust can provide medical after care the district councils can provide clouth food and shelter for any displaced individuals and the ambulance can provide immediate paramedic first aid at the incident. The inter agency approach enables more power due to the police and local government being involved, meaning more can be done and more resources can be accessed for the public’s benefits. The public will be the ones that reap the benefits as the inter agency approach will produce a resilient society which is resistant to disruption and able to cope with emergency events and recover quickly with mimum chaos and disruption.
All the services are involved in what is known as the planning cycle. The cycle is one focused on planning however makes it effective and useful as it entails education, exercise, review and rewriting, ensuring the plan is up to date. Up to date plans are vitally important as organisations such as the police and health & social care trust often experience change as does the environment, infrastructure and society we therefore always need to adapt.
The first stage of the planning process is known as Assessment/Direction. This is where all the services come together and become aware of both the internal and external factors and the potenal after effects and consequences if there is failure on their part; this therefore educating them on the scope of the situation and allowing them to come to terms with everything involved. This stage will include personnel form all levels who will be informed on the overall objectives and key principles of the plan.
Then there is the information and gathering stage which is vitally important as this enables organisations to learn useful information internally within their own service and also externally from other organisations concerning the adequate response that will be suitable, the individuals and organisations which will be involved and who could contribute effectively and the needs of the public. Learning the needs of the public will enable the services to protect them and save more lives. This will then more likely produce an effective plan and therefore an emergency response that is required.
Preparation of plans is the next stage of planning where a sample plan template will be produced. It will be a basic and general plan for a general major incident; it will not consist of specific details or aspects as its purpose is to be used by many different organisations for many major incident circumstances. This is useful as the template can be easily adapted to suit the needs of a particular organisation or a certain major incident, it provides the services with a starting point a basis to start preparation.
Consultation will then take place and include a planning group consisting of key individuals form varies services and organisations. This enables individuals from a varies backgrounds in training whom posses a variety of skills and specialist knowledge and resources to brainstorm and therefore enhance planning and produce a comprehensive plan that entails the contribution of many expertise from a variety of services and organisations that can meet the complex needs of the public in a holistic way.
The training stage is a useful and essential part of the planning process as it provides all service personnel the opportunity to know what their role is and to also practice it to ensure they get it right when an incident actually does happen.
Therefore it is clear that the best approach to planning an effective emergency plan for the UK is the inter agency approach as it has the ability to develop comprehensive plans to meet the holistic needs of the public.