Emergency care staff faced a disaster scenario last week as part of a special training exercise.

Consultants, registrars and nursing colleagues at Wexham Park were tasked with managing patient care and flow through the hospital’s emergency department in the aftermath of a theoretical plane crash in Slough.

Team members were assigned specific roles for the magnetic whiteboard exercise and worked with limited resources to simulate the process of an emergency response to a major incident.

Working together, they assessed and responded to patients’ changing care needs, moving them between department areas including resus, X-ray, minors and paeds, among others.

The Emergo Train System training was introduced to Frimley Health by Jason Wright, interim emergency planning training lead, and adapted for Wexham Park by senior ED staff.

Jason, who has taken Emergo to other NHS trusts, said: “It’s the biggest exercise of this type.

“It’s designed to look at resources and set challenges specific to a patient, which results in pressure on the staff to make a fast decision on that patient’s care pathway. It’s the best way to simulate a critical decision process.”

Staff taking part in the training gave positive feedback.

Our Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response team is now planning to offer Emergo Train System training to emergency care colleagues at Frimley Park.