In the spirit of strengthening NSW Health’s ability to deal with major public health emergencies and natural disasters, the Office of the Chief Health Officer delivers a range of specialised training and discussion exercises for the public health network.
In 2014/15 Health Protection NSW and the Office of the Chief Health Officer continued with a series of exercises focused on public health responses to major incidents or emergencies. These brought together Health Protection NSW, Ministry of Health and public health unit staff, as well as colleagues from other health specialities (e.g. pharmaceutical services, microbiology or toxicology, acute care) to tackle some of the trickier aspects of the myriad of fictional scenarios such as an extended power outage in metropolitan Sydney and Ebola Virus Disease. Fictional scenarios considered as part of discussion exercises are one of the best ways to test response arrangements, build relationships and identify planning gaps.
In 2014/15 the Office of the Chief Health Officer delivered a number of key public health emergency preparedness training courses that included: