GWENT HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST
EXERCISE BARDIC SURGE
POST EXERCISE REPORT
Mobile Medical Teams from the NevillHallHospital and the RoyalGwentHospital were deployed to locations in Gwent as part of a large scale military exercise in September.
All emergency response agencies took part and worked alongside the military on Exercise Bardic Surge during the September 8th – 12th
The Mobile Medical Teams are now known as MERIT – Medical Emergency Response Incident Teams. MERIT teams are trained, resourced and deployed to serious Major Emergencies such as those which occurred at Severn Tunnel, and Raglan some years ago.
These teams are required to train regularly and to participate in all live exercise events which provide an opportunity to deal with mock casualties. Cross border training is also included to facilitate wide area response in the event of a catastrophic emergency.
The Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall teams were joined by a small team of colleagues from University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, in order to allow them some joint working experience in out of hospital facilities
This deployment of the MERIT teams supported the Welsh Ambulance Service activity at the Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) The CCS is a simple field hospital facility in which a wide range of life saving and preserving clinical interventions can be undertaken, prior to the casualty being taken to hospital.
The Gwent Healthcare MERIT Teams are comprised of experienced staff from Accident & Emergency who have all undertaken additional training over a period of time to equip them for the rigours of this type of emergency response.
On the days of the exercise, the two teams were assembled at RoyalGwentHospital for a very early start and transported to Beachley Barracks in Chepstow, where Welsh Ambulance Service had established its Casualty Clearing Station equipment. Mock casualties were then airlifted in from the “Incident scene” at Caerwent, by RAF Search and Rescue helicopters. The mock casualties were provided courtesy of the RAF recruits and were made up with very realistic externally visible injuries.
The mock casualties had a wide range of injuries, from minor cuts and abrasions to serious and complex injuries requiring significant interventions to be performed.
Emergency Planning Manager, Adrian Girvin explained “This very active scene provided for the MERIT team members, a glimpse of the noise and general conditions which may be faced at a real incident scene. It is noise in particular which adds to the difficulty of assessing and diagnosing at the incident scene. The noise from the helicopter coupled with the road noise from the adjacent M48 illustrated how difficult it could be to work in a CCS for real – and often this work needs to be undertaken at night or in inclement weather when conditions are at their worst.”
This exercise provided the Trust with an opportunity not only to physically deploy the MERIT team but also to review the whole process of deployment and the protocols that apply in such situations
Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust now has a large number of staff trained as MERIT team members and continues to press ahead with this important initiative to support the emergency services at major incidents
The training and co-ordination of the MERIT activity is overseen by Trust Emergency Planning Manager, Adrian Girvin and Emergency Planning Officer Sara Goode.