§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on preparations to deal with cases of SARS in Northern Ireland. [151213]
§ Angela SmithIn June 2003 the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety set up a Northern Ireland SARS Taskforce charged, inter alia, with preparing a contingency Plan for SARS in Northern Ireland. This in turn led to the establishment of eight sub-groups drawn from the HPSS to take forward various aspects of SARS preparation and these groups reported to a Conference in Belfast on 8 December at which the Contingency Plan was also launched. A tabletop exercise, to test the Plan, was held the following day and the lessons learned from that will be incorporated into the Plan at the next reprint.
The Contingency Plan includes arrangements for any one (or all) of three acute hospitals to be designated to deal with SARS patients. Plans for upgrading work at these, and other hospitals with A&E Departments, are in preparation, while steps to provide personal protection equipment (PPE) for health care workers, including GPs, in contact with suspected SARS cases 463W are also well advanced. A training package video/CD Rom covering a number of issues including infection control and the use of PPE has also been prepared for distribution to the service.
The Department has also opened a special SARS website with information both for health professionals and members of the public.