Health board tests fire evacuation procedures at Mountain Ash hospital

A fire evacuation and major incident exercise has taken place at Ysbyty Cwm Cynon in Mountain Ash to test Cwm Taf University Health Board’s hospital evacuation procedures.

 

The exercise was supported by the fire, police and ambulance services with 24 firefighters taking part in essential training with health board staff.

 

Chris Beadle, Head of Health, Safety and Fire for Cwm Taf University Health Board said: “These exercises are vital in helping us test our safety procedures should a fire break out on one of our sites. The scenario for this exercise involved a fire in the service ducts which would have impacted on the hospital’s power and communications systems. The exercise was a success and we would like to thank the emergency services for their co-operation and support.”

 

The second part of the exercise was a table-top exercise to test the resilience of the health board’s evacuation procedures, which was attended by senior nurses; police, fire, ambulance and local authority representatives.

 

Cwm Taf’s Civil Contingencies manager Richard Sealey said: “The table-top exercise was designed to replicate what a silver command group would look like should a major incident be declared and the need for an evacuation of the hospital to take place. Following fire incidents in several NHS trusts in England we have taken the lead in Wales by developing a Hospital Evacuation protocol in Cwm Taf which we discussed with our key partners to ensure it is fit for purpose.”