Abstract

Emergency planning is a new science and there is a lack of UK standardisation in regard to NHSemergency planning. A first step to achieving standardisation within emergency planning is elucidationof national training competencies.Aim: This study was designed to find consensus amongst multi-agency chemical, biological,radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNe) experts on the factors that must be included infuture NHS CBRNe competencies.Methods: Data was collected using an anonymised online Delphi study. Two rounds of studywere completed. Experts were selected through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling.In total 43 experts agreed to take part in this study. Twenty-one experts responded to thefirst round’s single open-ended question. Fourteen experts responded to the second which contained64 Likert-scored questions. Consensus was achieved in 46 questions.Results: The consensus of expert opinion generated 10 suggested core training competencies.Conclusion: There is an urgent need to standardise national planning, training and evaluationof NHS staff who are expected to respond to CRBNe and other emergencies. Further research isneeded to identify training and response templates so that lessons can be learned from theseexperiences and fed back to improve future response.