When there’s a major incident, we provide emergency lifesaving care at the scene
A major incident is an event or situation with a range of serious consequences, which requires an immediate response from one or more of the emergency services.
It’s likely to involve serious harm, damage or disruption and pose a risk to human life, such as an explosion, a terrorist attack, a building collapse or a large-scale traffic accident.
Our role in a major incident
When a major incident occurs in the North East, NEAS is responsible for alerting and mobilising all the necessary NHS resources to deal with the incident. We are usually the first branch of the NHS to arrive at the scene and will alert all hospitals likely to be affected, as well as NHS England.
Our responsibilities on the scene
When attending a major incident, it’s our job to provide a focal point at the incident for all NHS and other medical resources. We’ll work closely with the police and fire and rescue service to provide essential, lifesaving treatment for those who are injured, either directly or in conjunction with other medical personnel.
We’ll also coordinate the evacuation needs of patients and alert the main receiving hospitals, as well as providing transport for mobile surgical teams who are needed at the scene.
Highly trained staff
Our staff go through extensive training to prepare them for attending a major incident. We participate in major exercises with the police, fire and rescue service and local authorities in the North East to test our procedures, and together we anticipate a wide variety of scenarios and practice how we would respond.