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GP practices advised to review security measures amid raised terror threat

GP practices advised to review security measures amid raised terror threat

NHS England has advised GP practices to review their security arrangements, after the Government raised the UK terror threat level on Tuesday.

NHS England’s letter was sent ‘as a consequence’ of yesterday’s risk upgrade, which came after a bombing outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday was declared a terror incident.

Following the incident, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) took the decision to raise the UK National Threat Level from ‘substantial’, meaning an attack is likely, to ‘severe’, meaning an attack is highly likely.

NHS England’s notice, from director of emergency preparedness resilience and response Stephen Groves, was sent to NHS organisations including GP practices.

Advice included for practices to:

  • Communicate the new alert level to staff;
  • ‘Review relevant staffing levels and security arrangements’ and consider any advice from local security experts alongside the local police force’s Counter Terrorism Security Advisor (CTSA);
  • Ensure staff awareness of incident response plans;
  • Let local NHS England and regional emergency preparedness resilience and response teams know of any ‘current or scheduled works’ or ‘operational changes currently affecting service delivery within your organisation’;
  • Examine Home Office advice relating to the new ‘severe’ threat level, and ‘risk assess this against your own organisation’, mitigating identified risks where possible.

Further advice will be issued ‘as required’, the document said.

NHS England explained that it is standard process to send out a letter such as this when the terror threat level changes.

Following terror attacks in 2017, NHS England sent a letter to GPs outlining evidence-based treatment for victims of trauma, following the ‘major incidents in Manchester and London’.


          

READERS' COMMENTS [1]

Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles

The Prime Minister 17 November, 2021 4:29 pm

GIVEN THE MEDIA ARE ACTING AS THE GOVERNMENTS PROXY AND HAVE BEEN RECENTLY INCITING VIOLENCE AGAINST GENERAL PRACTICE WITH INFLAMMATORY ARTICLES, THE REAL “TERROR THREAT” IS FROM THE GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE BEEN “TERRORISING” GPs FOR OVER 10 YEARS…..WELL THE NEWSFLASH IS THAT WE ARE ALLL BLOODY SICK OF IT…..AND I SUGGEST THAT THEY FIND SOME OTHER MORON TO INTIMIDATE……SO GET STUFFED.