During the last few years considerable changes have taken place in the
operational environment and workings of health care. The service system has become more
outpatient care-orientated. The systems of health care, finance and patient administration
as well as the practices of examination and treatment, have become dependent on technology
and are more vulnerable to disturbances.
The security of supply of medicines, vaccines, health care instruments and equipment is
more and more dependent on import, which in the future may have a considerable effect on
preparedness in critical situations and exceptional circumstances.
The aims of the preparedness of health care in critical situations under normal
circumstances and in exceptional circumstances are defined in the Decision of the Council
of State on the Security of Supply. According to the Decision, the essential services from
the point of view of the health as well as the working and functional capacity of the
population are secured at normal level for a period of twelve months.
The Handbook on Preparedness Planning for Health Care has been compiled in such a way
that it takes into consideration the changes and focuses set for contingency and
preparedness planning by regulations and the work modes and working environment. In the
handbook special attention has been paid to the carrying out and systematic use of
resource analyses required by local and regional risk analyses and risk management when
developing contingency planning for health care and evaluating and eliminating its
insufficiencies.
The handbook is divided into two parts. The first part consists of the description of
the principles for contingency planning. It is intended to form a manual-like information
package containing all the factors that should be taken into consideration in contingency
planning for health care, preparedness planning and security planning. The text is
supplied with literary references with regard to different contexts, the purpose of which
is to help the user of the handbook to find more detailed additional information on each
subject.
For the part of contingency planning for health care itself, the handbook describes the
preparedness planning of the health care centre, the regional preparedness planning of the
hospital district and the preparedness planning of the hospital. The purpose of the
handbook is specifically to emphasise the use of regional development and both regional
resources and know-how in the contingency planning of health care. The earlier starting
point for the functional unit-specific planning will be transferred in order to be based
on the regional operational model.
The handbook is meant for the management of functional units in health care as well as
the personnel responsible for preparedness planning, as an aid in the development of
contingency planning and the drawing up of preparedness plans and in order to guarantee
the quality of these. The purpose of the handbook is to help chart the local and regional
risks and resources and develop them so that they correspond with each other. In the
handbook, preparedness planning is considered as an extensive entity.
The handbook has been prepared on the initiative of the Social and Medical Emergency
Preparedness and Response Unit of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in widespread
co-operation with management responsible for preparedness planning at different levels of
health care and experts participating in this work.