A national pandemic response exercise is to be held in autumn, to test the UK’s plans, protocols and procedures in the event of another major pandemic, the Covid-19 inquiry has heard.
Speaking at the inquiry on Thursday 16 January, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, said this would be led by senior ministers and would run across all regions.
He said: ‘The inquiry recommended that the UK Government and devolved governments should together hold a regular UK-wide pandemic response exercise. We agree and will be undertaking a full national pandemic response exercise later this year.
‘It will be the first of its kind in nearly a decade. It will test the UK’s capabilities, plans, protocols and procedures in the event of another major pandemic. It will be led by senior ministers, involve thousands of participants and run across all regions and nations of the UK.’
He added that ‘the exercise will take place in the autumn over a number of days’, and that findings and lessons would be communicated afterwards.
It comes after a diagnostic accelerator was launched in December to strengthen the UK’s pandemic preparedness and response.
Alongside the exercise, Mr McFadden said a new national vulnerability map would be created by the cabinet office and Office for National Statistics to geographically map the population numbers of those who may be vulnerable in a crisis.
‘It will do that by sharing data including age, disability, ethnicity, and whether someone is receiving care,’ he said. ‘The map will improve the government’s understanding of the scale and location of disproportionately impacted populations ahead of and during crises and enable targeted local support when required.’
It comes as an ‘early warning system’ for future pandemics was announced in November by the Department of Health and Social Care. The surveillance system will be created via the expansion of NHS England’s respiratory metagenomics programme, led by Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
In November, former health secretary, Sir Sajid Javid, said at the Covid-19 Inquiry that the primary care system was ‘not fit for purpose’ and that more should be done to ensure areas of health prevention and promotion are ‘better addressed’.
