Resilience strategies of healthcare facilities: present and future

Abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to explore UK healthcare resilience strategies; define gaps and provide suggestions based on international best practice. Design/methodology/approach:The study adopted a pluralistic qualitative research approach to achieve its purpose including: research papers, governmental and non-governmental reports, code and guidance documents, and databases. In addition, two case studies were visited in May 2009: the first was one of the major hospitals in the UK; and the second is a major health facility located at the south of Taiwan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the hospitals responsible and/or emergency officers to clarify the strategies setup to respond to emergencies. Findings:The results show that despite the "robust" emergency planning in the UK, many issues could have been avoided if international experience was reviewed carefully. This is due to the failure of not working closer with multi-disciplinary experts, who provide technical and tactical help and lessons learned from international best practices, in addition to limiting accessibility of experts to information. The study also suggests that climate change must be addressed comprehensively through fusing resilience and sustainability strategies into a more comprehensive strategy of adaptation. Originality/value:The paper provides a significant contribution in terms of reducing the fragmentation of healthcare resilience related work done previously; constructive criticism of UK healthcare resilience strategies; and evidence of better practice from local and international facilities which will help in enhancing the resilience of healthcare facilities in the UK and elsewhere in the world.

Healthcare emergency planning and management to major hazards in the UK

“…These will provide not only evidence/scientific support about the hazard and vulnerability, but also play a major role in identifying priorities, developing more robust emergency plans, while taking into account of the current financial climate through the use of modern techniques (e.g., IT systems), and increasing knowledge and awareness of professionals. The findings of this research complement previous research work which focused on studying the resilience of healthcare from different perspectives such as: resilience strategies (Achour et al, 2008(Achour et al, , 2009Achour and Price, 2010), structural and nonstructural behaviour (Achour et al, 2011), utility supplies and impact on hospital operation , and design and space planning .…”

Learning lessons from the 2011 Van Earthquake to enhance healthcare surge capacity in Turkey

“…This denotes that resilience needs to go beyond strengthening the infrastructure (Achour et al, 2011) to include other aspects that are essential for maintaining the continuity of the service. These aspects could be finding ways to reduce the impact of other infrastructures' failures , empowering people to interact more with other emergency agencies (Achour et al, 2015), and developing strategies to improve response to major hazards (Achour and Price, 2010). The findings of this study suggest that the Turkish authorities are implementing a more resilient approach due to lessons gained from previous experience.…”

“…These require the adoption of a multiple hazard approach. Failing to do so could lead facilities to an inoperable state such as happened with the Taiwanese Kaohsiung Municipal Hospital, which lost records of 500,000 patients records stored in the underground floor (Achour and Price, 2010).…”

Human Behaviour and Resilience Hospital

“…Carthey et al (2008) highlight that it is essential to integrate responses with existing asset and disaster management frameworks and also to involve clinicians, health service, and facility managers in decision-making processes to ensure more effective community responses and greater pressure for the development of adaptive capacity for healthcare infrastructure. In regards of these notions, Achour & Price (2010) highlight the need to review current resilient strategies. It is supported by Achour et al (2014), developing the right strategy could be the most significant step towards the resilience of healthcare facilities.…”