Introduction

A crisis is defined as an unplanned event or situation that could threaten to harm people or seriously damage organisational reputation. Effective risk analysis and management is designed to prevent issues developing into crises.

SSAFA’s PR Team should know about all complaints, potential issues or crises across the board at SSAFA, not just if the complainant has threatened to go to the media.

The PR team has created a framework to further define these crises and ensure swift action and an appropriate response to match it and provided some examples alongside them. These examples may not always match the level listed here; for example, we may have a Level 3 crisis of executive misconduct. These examples are used simply to illustrate the gravity of the “level” and ensure that all parties understand the seriousness of the situation at hand.rious Crisis - re

How Complaints come in to SSAFA/how issues are flagged

Most crises or issues are monitored by the PR and Social Media teams and do not develop further. It is much easier to monitor if we know the names of the people involved (and the approximate area).

In the event of a crisis developing, swift decision making, and timely action will be required by key employees. Members of the Management team, subject matter experts and the PR Team will need to work concurrently and react quickly during the early stages of a crisis management scenario.

Effective internal communication is a key part of the crisis management process and should be worked on with the Internal and Change Communications Manager.

Key contacts are:

• Sir Andrew, Sir Gary (Chair),
• Julie McCarthy (Director of Volunteer Operations),
• Esther McLaughlin (Deputy Director of Volunteer Operations),
• Suzanne Cornford (Principal Safeguarding Officer),
• Lynne Doherty (Director of Social Care Operations)

Current process:

• PR Team - alerted to a crisis (see table above)
• PR Team works through the crisis (ensures correct Head Office or Regional teams/ personnel within SSAFA are alerted, for example Vol Ops, Fundraising and Safeguarding) (if from an MP  the Controller and appropriate service is informed)
• PR Team shares with Social Media team
• Tracking via media and social media takes place
• Compose reactive lines (if not already prepared) and ensure sign off by senior figure (Controller, DFMC)
• Watching, monitoring and responding if needed

The ‘can’t comment ‘comment’’: A SSAFA spokesperson, said: “SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity provides practical, emotional and financial assistance to serving personnel, veterans and their families in their time of need. Due to data protection laws and our need to protect our beneficiaries’ and employees’ confidentiality, we cannot comment on individuals or their circumstances.

“Whether you are in need of support or know someone from the UK’s Armed Forces community who does, contact Forcesline, our free and confidential helpline or via our webchat. Find out more by visiting ssafa.org.uk/get-help/Forcesline.”

The first paragraph of the statement above should also be used, and adapted if necessary, for social media.

Serious Crisis - Response Team

This is in the event of a serious crisis  most scenarios can be dealt with using the above.

In the event of a serious crisis developing, the following employees will serve as SSAFA’s Crisis Management team. Specific roles and responsibilities will be dependent on the nature of the crisis being managed but need to be agreed as quickly as possible:

• Controller
• Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications
• Deputy Director of Marketing and Communications
• Head of PR
• Chief Operating Officer and/or
• Director of People
• Director of Volunteer Operations or Deputy Director of Volunteer operations or
• Director of Social Care Operations or Director of Community Healthcare Services
• Other employees as appropriate depending on crisis occurred (to be determined by Controller or Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications). This includes potential involvement of regional staff  updated list in Appendix A.

NOTE: the crisis or issue should not be spoken about beyond this group

Immediate Action

1. Establish and verify the facts, retaining a written log of all conversations.
2. Alert Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications, Deputy Director Marketing and Communications, Head of PR and PR team.
3. Alert Controller if appropriate.

Notification

1. Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications/ Deputy Director of Marketing and Communications to lead in pulling together Crisis Management team.
2. Alert relevant employees within SSAFA.
3. Gather relevant facts and information.
4. Brief the Digital team to monitor social media and be prepared to remove posts if necessary. If appropriate, offer to deal directly via an email address.
5. Brief the Marketing and Brand team to monitor internal social media (Yammer) and be prepared to remove posts if necessary. If appropriate, offer to deal directly via an email address.
6. Request legal advice, if appropriate.

Holding Statement

1. It might be necessary to distribute a holding statement whilst the issue is assessed further and/or a full statement is produced.
2. The statement below should be used as far as possible and adjusted, if necessary to fit the situation:

Lieutenant-General Sir Andrew Gregory, KBE, CB, DL, Chief Executive of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity Chief Executive of SSAFA said:

“We are aware of [insert issue/problem] and are currently investigating the situation fully.”

“SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity provides practical, emotional and financial assistance to serving personnel, veterans and their families in their time of need. Due to data protection laws and our need to protect our beneficiaries’ and employees’ confidentiality, we cannot comment on individuals or their circumstances.”

“Whether you are in need of support or know someone from the UK’s Armed Forces community who does, contact Forcesline, our free and confidential helpline or via our webchat. Find out more by visiting ssafa.org.uk/get-help/Forcesline.”

Media Response  if a response further to the above is needed (very rare)

1. PR team to draft initial media response / line to take and decide to whom it should be attributed (usually Controller / Chief Executive).
2. Seek approval from Controller/ Director
3. Respond to journalist.
4. Send response to other media contacts if appropriate.
5. Agree protocol for handling further media enquiries

Media Spokesperson

1. Identify media spokesperson (if not Controller) and brief them fully.
2. PR team to draft Q&A for spokesperson and Crisis Comms team.
3. If time allows practice likely questions.
4. In the event of external comment and/or media engagement being required, the following employees are authorised to speak on behalf of SSAFA:
   • Controller
   • Director of Volunteer Operations
   • Vice Chair of SSAFA
   • National Chair of SSAFA

Digital Media

Note that issues can escalate very quickly on social media.

1. Proactive and reactive statements prepared
2. Agree with Social Media team whether a statement should appear on website/social media channels.
3. If yes, external comments must be monitored and responded to quickly. Discuss which type of comments need to be responded to and which should be hidden. Incident specific.
4. Social media listening tool, Falcon, is in place and can be instantly updated with keywords to track singular issues.
5. Timetable/rota for out of hours monitoring will be put in place
6. Agreement as to whether to pause all paid/organic activity until the issue is resolved.

Internal Communications

1. Discuss internal communications plan with Internal and Change Communications Manager and/or Head of Marketing and Brand.
2. Determine who else in SSAFA needs to know, such as trustees and key volunteers.
3. Decide if and at which point wider employees in SSAFA need to be told.
4. Ensure that employees and key volunteers have relevant information, including key messages, but are instructed to pass all enquiries to DDMC and Hope.
5. Consider whether it is necessary to place a statement Landing pages: SSAFAnet for staff/vols and SSAFA website for public? (depending on scale of crisis).
6. Ensure that employees and volunteers are aware that no one other than the designated spokesperson is permitted to speak to the media.
7. Decide whether any external stakeholders, such as MOD, need to be told.
8. A dedicated SSAFA.net page is available to all employees informing colleagues of who to contact in the event of a crisis and/or a speculated crisis.

Monitor

1. Circulate regular updates amongst the Crisis Management team and other key members employees / volunteers.
2. Respond as necessary to further enquiries.
3. Make sure all further responses are consistent, accurate, reassuring and do not deviate from agreed lines.

Appendix A - Regional Staff Crisis Team

Table contains current contact details for each regions Chairperson followed by the Region Operations Support Manager (ROSM).

Appendix B - Crisis Factsheet Template

Please note this template should be used for Level 1 and 2 crises. It may or may not be needed for Level 3 and 4 crises depending on the issue.

Appendix C - Crisis Simulation Rehearsals Timetable and Attendees

Crisis comms simulation meetings will be held every six months with the SSAFA crisis response team. The meeting will be documented and shared with the team and kept on file for auditing purposes.

We aim to work with an external communications agency to support us through this process. Example below:

Salvage

As soon as notified that Central Office has been partially or totally destroyed the Salvage team under the direction of Head of Service, Estates  Facilities (HOSEF) is to report to Queen Elizabeth House (or another location as directed). HOSEF will then decide whether a specialist team is required.

Salvage Team

• Facilities Administrator (FS)
• Deputy Facilities Manager
• 1 x Facilities Assistant
• Assistant IT Manager
• Human Resources Administrator
• 1 x Accountant
• Individual Giving Manager
• Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications
• 1 x Volunteer Support Advisor
• Internal and Change Communications Manager

Storage/Removals

The Deputy Facilities Manager is to arrange for immediate removals and storage (with Access Self Storage) as assessed at the time.

Relocation and Restoration

Unless advised otherwise by the Controller, HOSEF is to locate a relocation site and conduct initial planning to include.

• Department siting
• Furnishings needed
• Equipment needed (including IT)

Once a new site has been found the rest of Central Office (QEH) employees should report to that site as directed

The purpose of this article is to highlight business continuity services and processes in place, and where cloud services are not available at present, demonstrate correct actions at an operational level. Services have been broken up to fit into 3 core groups, Communications, IT Systems and Operations, and Data & Access.

General continuity lead times are as follows for services listed and are listed as the maximum lead time. Where operationally or by mission statement impact, damage to the organisation is incurred some contracts cover loss of earnings.

Lead times for business continuity invocations

Communications: Secondary options within 24 hours

IT Systems and Operations: Secondary options within 24 hours

Data and Access: Dependant on volume and criticality of failure/issue

Full invocation order

1. IT Critical Systems
2. Communication systems
3. Data Services

Approval of continuity status to be provided by IT director in conjunction with the SLT.

The ‘Continuity Action Summary’ shows what we have, details of which are not exhaustive. All service provided to the organisation have a secondary level of support from the vendor as a minimum.

Impact Scoring

Communications

All methods of contact used both internally and externally supported by SSAFA IT. Where the IT department is not listed as the Owner, please speak with respective department/operation lead, or see documentation provided by the department/operation in question.

IT Systems and Operations

This section covers all IT department owned services that provide the framework for access, communications, systems, and data storage.

Data and Access

This section covers data from systems and files and paths to access the data under the control of SSAFA IT.

Understanding the ‘Continuity Action Summary’

The continuity action summary highlights the “where to start?” operationally, technical documentation or initiator guides can be found in the IT documentation portal. Most services are cloud based which means that are already prepared to fail over and no actions need to be taken to fix or invoke business continuity measures.

Any mention of “from local” refers to IT team expertise and knowledge of configuration to retore the service or the item can be restored by the service providers from on site or from cloud to onsite.

There are some scenarios where legacy services are only enabled in the cloud if the central office site is unavailable (geographically resilient cloud and central office).

The full invocation of DR scenario is the only linear path to our complex services being restored. Each individual service has its own list of dependencies and requirements to operate. Each service also has its own caveats when invoking DR, in some instances it is not beneficial to invoke due to the

length of time required to revert being significantly longer than failing over.

IT Ownership List

General

The Charity has one central office, Queen Elizabeth House, 4 St Dunstan’s Hill, London, EC3R 8AD. The files are protected by fire and intruder alarms and are housed on the ground floor in a secure store in fireproof cabinets.

In compliance with SORP 2005, Trustees are required to make a statement in the Trustee Annual Report that ‘The major risks, to which the Charity is exposed, as identified by the Trustees, have been reviewed and systems established to mitigate those risks’. The Business Continuity Plan is a vital part of SSAFA’s Risk Management Policy.

Responsibility

The Chair of the Trustees of SSAFA delegates executive responsibility for the operation of SSAFA services to the Controller, in conjunction with the Adoption Management Committee.

The Controller holds responsibility for SSAFA operational activity, its financial management, duties relating to effective governance delegated through the Chair, and the employment of both staff and designated professional advisers, to support SSAFA in the delivery of its services.

The Head of Adoption holds responsibility for the operational management of Adoption managed through close liaison with the Director of Social Care Operations.

The Chief Operating Officer and The Director of People are responsible for the efficient management and administration of Finance, Human Resources and Administrative Services of SSAFA. The Head of Service, Estates  Facilities undertakes the role of Health and Safety Officer, ensuring that the Charities obligations under the relevant legislation and guidance are fulfilled.

The Director of Social Care Operations will be part of the Disaster Recover Team.

Priorities

SSAFA Adoption Service has identified the following as its aims and consequently these will become the part of the Recovery Plan.

• To provide secure and sustainable adoptive placements for children from the Looked After Children system in the UK who are likely to have experienced abuse and neglect and may have attachment difficulties and / or physical or learning disabilities. To provide post placement and post adoption support to any adoptive family who meets the eligibility criteria for a service.
• To provide counselling and support as appropriate to adopted adults, birth families, adopters and young people whose lives have been affected by adoption.

Intention

SSAFA will endeavour to provide all the necessary information required to aid in the recovery from an adverse event, in accordance with its policies and procedures, to minimise the impact on its children, families, staff, volunteers and all those stakeholders associated with the Charity and its work. This information collected is stored and made secure in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

Communication

In the event of a disaster, or significant risk to the operation of SSAFA, the Management will communicate to all staff using the Central Office Major Incident Escalation Process listed in Annex E.

Risk to Reputation

Where the event or significant risk is likely to impact upon the public and create unacceptable levels of risk to the good reputation of SSAFA the Controller together with the Chair of the trustees will inform SSAFA Council, of the identified course of action. This action should be open, accountable, quick and pro-active, clearly communicating the course of action, nominating a spokesperson and identifying the planned Recovery Programme to secure normal operation.

Major Disaster

In the event of a major disaster, the Controller will take responsibility for the enactment of the Recovery Plan and establishing the Recovery Team.

In the event that the building was rendered unfit due to damage, consideration would be given to re-locating the office, with social work staff working from home where necessary. An urgent assessment of the situation would be carried out by the Recovery Team to look at the short- and long-term implications of the problem.

Adoption case records are stored in the locked storeroom on the ground floor, with archived files being stored in an off-site location. Replacing the files would be difficult, but each local authority that has had children placed with adopters approved by SSAFA will have copies of the main documents, such as a PAR, CPR, medical notes and court reports, which could be obtained by the Adoption Manager contacting the relevant local authorities. In addition, with the exception of the historical files relating to relinquished infant adoptions from the 1960s - 2000, an electronic record is held for each case file.

The Adoption Service Social Workers are all home based; as such, the lack of office accommodation would have minimal impact on the delivery of social work. The point of contact would remain the Head of Adoption and regular meetings will continue to take place to ensure continued and co-ordinated service delivery. The Head of Adoption will contact all placing agencies and service users to inform them of the interim arrangements and clarify contact telephone numbers.

Neighbouring voluntary and statutory agencies would also be contacted for any assistance they could offer.

OTHER DIFFICULTIES

Prolonged Absence of Staff

Registered Manager and Agency Decision Maker

In the unforeseen absence of the Registered Manager for the Adoption Service (which is the Head of Adoption) and where this is expected to be for a period of 28 days or more, the regulatory bodies should be informed. The relevant regulatory bodies are Ofsted for England and Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland for Scotland. Each regulatory body should be informed of what interim measures the agency is taking to mitigate the absence of the Registered Manager.

The Chair of the Adoption Management Committee should be contacted, and consideration be given to convening an emergency meeting of the Adoption Management Committee.

The Head of Adoption’s diary is available on Outlook, which will assist in the re-arranging of required meetings.

The Controller, Chief Operating Officer, Director of People, Director of Social Care Operations and the Chair of the Adoption Management Committee should meet to consider how the duties of the Head of Adoption can continue and who will be responsible for what.

In the event of a prolonged absence the Principal Safeguarding Officer who is the Agency Decision Maker a discussion should take place with the Director of Social Care Operations and the Head of Adoption about, who will assume the role of Agency Decision Maker in the interim.

Absence of Social Workers

Priority to safeguard children placed with adopters approved by the Adoption Service should ideally be allocated to existing workers. If this is not possible due to workloads, sessional social workers will be used to cover the work.

Professional Services, Financial and Governance Risks

The presence of a strong Management Team within the Charity reduces the impact of the event but, more importantly, provides strong leadership in the likely event of a disaster. The Management Team regularly undertakes a strong scrutiny of all aspects of the Society’s work, which aids the maintenance of a high reputation for professional services in its adoption and adoption support work. The Adoption Manager supervises social workers monthly and conducts audits of case files on a regular basis to monitor the work of the social workers and to ensure the work completed meets the prescribed policies and procedures for the Service.

Daily system back-ups and virus detection protocols reduce the likelihood of IT system crashes and ensure security of data.

Aim

The purpose of this Annex is to specify the process to be followed in the event of an incident at Central Office (QEH) such as bombs, plant, power and gas failures and flooding and that will either restrict or not allow access to Central Office (QEH).

Escalation Process:

In the event of serious problems affecting access/occupation of Central Office (QEH) such as fire, flood or acts of terrorism the following procedures are to be used to escalate the situation to the Management and employees that occupy Central Office (QEH). There are two procedures to be used, one for working hours and one to be used for out of working hours.

In Working Hours

During working hours the initial call outs will be made by the HOSEF or the Maintenance Supervisor who will inform the following employees.

• Head of Service Estates  Facilities (HOSEF)
• Chief Operating Officer
• Director of People and Operational Development
• Director of IT
• Deputy IT Manager
• Internal and Change Communications Manager

The following information is to be passed on.

• What the incident is.
• Time and location of briefing meeting  

The details of the names of people who have been contacted or left messages for is to be noted and recorded.

Out of Working Hours

Outside of working hours the HOSEF or the Maintenance Supervisor will be informed either by the Central Station for the Fire Alarm, or the Intruder Alarm that a serious incident has happened at Central Office (QEH).

The HOSEF or the Maintenance Supervisor will ascertain the seriousness of the incident and then escalate the information to the following people.

• Head of Service Estates - Facilities
• Chief Operating Officer

In the event of an incident that means the building cannot be occupied then the following action will have to be taken.

The Directors will need to be informed of the situation and what information they need to pass onto their employees. Details of the location date and time of the first Operational team meeting to initiate the Recovery Plan.

Directors will need to use a cascade system to inform their employees of the situation and they must be in possession of their employee contact details and these need to be kept at home and up to date.

Purpose

SSAFA service delivery may be interrupted by an emergency or other significant event at any time. This may range from something that affects one area of operations to a more serious event affecting SSAFA staff/service functions or an event affecting the wider community. Typical causes of disruption to services may be flooding, fire, severe weather, a pandemic or an epidemic. Whatever the scenario, a rapid, proportionate and efficient response is required to manage the incident in order to restore normal business functioning as soon as possible.

Business continuity management (BCM) is about maintaining SSAFA’s ability to deliver essential services during a major incident or emergency situation which has an impact on SSAFA. It involves improving service resilience by assessing the risks faced by the organisation and mitigating these as far as practicable. The generation of a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is therefore an integral part of SSAFA’s risk management arrangements.

The BCP is generic and outlines how Community Healthcare services in Cyprus will respond to a significant incident or an emergency situation.  As incidents and emergencies vary considerably, this Plan provides a core set of principles and processes that can be applied to handle a range of situations. It sets out the capability of the organisation at strategic, tactical and operational levels to manage business disruptions in order to continue business operations to an acceptable pre-determined level.

Aims

The aims of the BCP are to:

• Outline the strategic framework for the management of a business continuity incident (BCI) within British Forces Cyprus (BFC) by the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare service, in partnership with Command.
• State the response of the Community Healthcare team to any incident which threatens the safety of the community or environment or disrupts the normal provision of services.
• Provide the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team with a management framework of response and to outline to the Authority the alternative working arrangements that will be activated to continue providing essential services in the event of service disruption or failure.

Scope

This Plan runs alongside the existing:

• Healthcare BCPs at Episkopi, Akrotiri, Dhekelia, Ayios Nikolaos, Nicosia (UN) and Troodos Garrison (copies of which can be found in our Policy Centres on SSAFA365 and MODNet).
• The BFC Health Service Pandemic Flu Plan.

It should be recognised that SSAFA is neither the owner/leaseholder of buildings occupied by SSAFA, nor is it the sole employer; these and other Government Furnished Assets (GFA) are the responsibility of the MOD (the Authority) and are supplied to SSAFA under the terms of the extant Community Healthcare contract.

Whilst the BCP concentrates on events happening on island, the provision of SSAFA services could be affected by issues arising in the UK Central Office.  The provision of IT systems is a particular case in question.  Due notice should therefore also be taken of the SSAFA Central Office BCP.

In January 2020, the World Health Organisation declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) due to the spread of COVID-19.  In light of this, and the spread of the virus into the Republic of Cyprus and BFC, the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare service activated its BCP and has subsequently developed a COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).  Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare service continues to operate in line with the COVID-19 SOP.  As such, this BCP should be read in conjunction with the COVID-19 SOP and its associated annexes, a copy of which can be found in the SSAFA Cyprus Policy Centres on SSAFA365 and MODNet.

Content

Introduction

The key objectives of this Plan are to:

1. Outline responsibilities for BCM within the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team.
2. Identify the essential services within our scope and the specific   functions which support the delivery of these services, and to outline the impact if these essential services could not be provided for a period of time.
3. Identify risks to the organisation which may cause a business continuity incident (BCI), evaluate the likelihood of these risks being realised and outline mitigating actions to be taken now to minimise these risks; and
4. Identify scalable alternative working arrangements to continue to provide essential services and functions in the event of loss or disruption to an essential service.
5. Minimise disruption for both the public and SSAFA staff during a BCI and to ensure that information on the incident is communicated to staff, patients, the Authority, the general public and the media (if required).

Locality Team Leaders, Professional Leads and other managers have considered the essential services which must be maintained during an emergency or internal BCI.

Each MOD station/locality has its own BCP (see under ‘Scope’).  These are the documents that, at a glance, tell each Locality Team Leader what to do in the event of an incident causing disruption to normal working arrangements. Each Medical Centre Practice Manager retains a copy of their local plan outside of the office in case access to the office is not possible and/or IT is not functioning. The Station or Medical Centre BCP should be considered alongside this SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare BCP.

Business Continuity Management Process

Understanding the organisation. In developing an effective BCP, it is essential to understand SSAFA and the urgency with which its functions and processes need to be resumed in the event of service disruption or loss.  BCM is an integral part of SSAFA’s culture, not just a plan for when an incident occurs.  Locality Team Leaders and Professional Leads have contributed to this plan and will cascade it to their staff. In partnership with Command, it will be supported at all levels of the organisation and will, with increased awareness, be integrated into our normal way of working.

Identifying and assessing risks to the organisation  A risk register for all systems and processes within SSAFA has been developed in partnership with Command as the basis to identify what could lead to a BCI, including an assessment of its likelihood and impact.  Where risks can be mitigated to reduce them to an acceptable level by putting risk control measures in place, these have been classified as risk avoidance (use an alternative system) and risk reduction (workplace precautions).

Impact of Service Loss or Disruption A service disruption is defined as any incident which threatens personnel, buildings or the operational procedures of an organisation and which requires special measures to be taken to restore normal functions. Essential services must be maintained and normal services restored as soon as is practical and safe.  An incident becomes a BCI when one or more of the following impacts on the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare service:

• Inability to provide routine face to face service.
• Loss of staff functions.
• Loss of premises and utilities.
• Loss of systems (IT, telephony, information); and/or
• Loss of supply chains

Business Continuity Management  Responsibilities within SSAFA (in partnership with Command)

Individual or collective responsibilities are as set out below:

SSAFA Management Board and Trustees

Ensuringthat adequate SSAFA resources are allocated to emergency and business continuity planning.

Cyprus Community Healthcare Service: Operational Management Team (OMT)

• Undertaking risk assessments regarding the continuity of their service provision.
• Development and maintenance of BCPs for localities.
• Cascading the BCPs to appropriate staff within their area of responsibility.
• Providing situation reports (SitReps) concerning resources, responsibilities and the state of their service to the Director of Community Healthcare Operations (DCHO) and the Public Health & Engagement Manager or their deputies, as required.
• Cascading information to local staff in the event of an incident.

(The DCHO or nominated deputy will lead the BCI response out of hours)

Cyprus Community Healthcare Service: Professional Leads

Supporting the OMT in ensuring that clinical best practice and emerging clinical evidence for their lead area are factored into the response to any emergency or incident.

Cyprus Community Healthcare Service: DCHO Personal Assistant, or other nominated Headquarters Administrator

Ensuring that all decisions and actions agreed by the OMT are logged, using the Decision Log template as the basis for this decision and the action log, to be filed within the Cyprus OMT folder on SSAFA365.

Ensuring all SitReps received are filed within the Cyprus OMT folder on SSAFA365.

Cyprus Community Healthcare Service: Quality & Public Health Business Support Assistant, or other nominated Headquarters Administrator

• Disseminating information and guidance to staff members as instructed by DCHO, Quality & Performance Manager or Public Health & Engagement Manager.
• Disseminating information as instructed to the community via communication channels as laid out within this BCP.
• Logging details of information disseminated.

(In the event of a BCI affecting the whole of SSAFA, the notification and cascade process will be activated according to Annexes A-B and using the staff emergency contact list ).

BCP Training and Exercise

SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare staff should be updated about the location and content of the BCP.

SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare staff will participate in any BCP Command exercises, where appropriate, and any lessons learned will be incorporated into a revision of this BCP.

The BCP will be routinely discussed at the SSAFA Cyprus OMT and Governance Meeting to ensure that any individuals named within the Plan understand their responsibilities.

Activation of the BCP

Notification of Loss of/Disruption to an essential service during working hours:

If any member of the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team becomes aware that any kind of service disruption or loss is affecting service provision, they should inform their Line Manager who, in turn, should notify DCHO.

If the disruption or loss cannot be resolved within the station and is related to IT or Estates, the manager should notify the Authority’s designated officer via DCHO.

If the disruption or loss cannot be resolved promptly and is adversely affecting service provision, or it is having a wider impact upon the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team, DCHO should:

• Notify the Authority (Commander Medical and J1).
• Contact the Station Commander(s), advising of the service disruption/failure; and
• Contact the Help Desk in working hours through single point of contact (SPOC) on 188 (military) or 0370 6008910 (non-military), if there is a loss of telephones or IT.

Notification of Loss of/Disruption to an essential service out of hours:

• Notify DCHO who will notify the OMT or the relevant Locality Team Leader, as appropriate, and contact Station Commander(s) via the Duty Officer(s).
• Where disruption to a service or the potential for the incident to be prolonged and is likely to affect the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team on the next working, DCHO will authorise the activation of this BCP.
• DCHO may decide to notify the relevant Command personnel. Where access to premises is likely to be affected on the next working day, the relevant Locality Team Leader and/or Line Manager should notify those affected using the emergency contact list .

Alternative Premises

Each service has considered alternative accommodation arrangements within their local area should premises become unavailable or inaccessible for a period of time.  SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare Headquarters functions will relocate to the area identified by the Station. Some staff are able to work remotely from home.

Public Relations

SSAFA has a responsibility to provide timely, accurate information to all staff, the Authority, stakeholders, patients, the public and the local media in the event of significant service disruption or failure. All contact with the press and media will be with approval from DCHO and/or the Director of Marketing & Communications.

Stand down and recovery

A BCI remains active until notification is given by DCHO that it has ended.  A BCI should not be stood down until a recovery plan has been developed by the OMT, with input from the Professional Leads, and has been disseminated to all staff to ensure that services return to full operational capability in a safe and systematic way.  

Post Incident Debrief and Review Process

Following an incident where this BCP has been activated, a post incident debrief will be organised for all staff involved in the incident, following which a debrief report will be issued. SSAFA will also be a participant and share in any BFC debrief as appropriate. It is recognised that it is essential to learn from the experiences gained from implementing the contingency plans and ensure that the lessons learned are embedded into future policy and practice.

Legislation and Healthcare Standards

The Plan accords with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (updated August 2019) and also Care Quality Commission (CQC) Key Lines of Enquiry requirements, notably:

Key Line of Enquiry  Safety:

S5 - ‘How well are potential risks to the service anticipated and planned for in advance? How are potential risks taken into account when planning services, for example, seasonal fluctuations in demand, the impact of adverse weather, or disruption to staffing? What arrangements are in place to respond to emergencies and major incidents? How often are these practised and reviewed?’  

Key Line of Enquiry  Well Led:

W5 - ‘Are there clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance?’ and

W5.5 - ‘Are potential risks taken into account when planning services, for example seasonal or other expected or unexpected fluctuations in demand, or disruption to staffing or facilities?’

Under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), NHS organisations and subcontractors must show that they can deal with BCIs while maintaining services to patients. This work is referred to in the health community as ‘emergency preparedness resilience and response’ (EPRR). This is reinforced within the Health and Social Care Act (2012).

Review Period

This Plan will be reviewed annually or following lessons learned from an incident, exercise or changes to UK legislation or SSAFA procedures. The responsible manager or manager on duty at the time of the incident will conduct this review, in conjunction with the Cyprus OMT.

In developing a BCP, the services to be assessed are those whose   loss or disruption would cause:

• Serious interruption to care delivery.
• Risks to the health and safety of patients, the public or employees.
• Significant effect upon service capacity.
• Reputational damage.
• Financial damage; and/or
• Contravention of legal or statutory obligations.

Where a BCI is declared, reference should also be made to the extant SSAFA Incident and Significant Event Policy.

3. Business Continuity Management  Responsibilities within SSAFA (in partnership with Command)

Individual or collective responsibilities are as set out below:

SSAFA Management Board and Trustees

• Ensuring that adequate SSAFA resources are allocated to emergency and business continuity planning.

Cyprus Community Healthcare Service: Operational Management Team (OMT)

• Undertaking risk assessments regarding the continuity of their service provision.
• Development and maintenance of BCPs for localities.
• Cascading the BCPs to appropriate staff within their area of responsibility.
• Providing situation reports (SitReps) concerning resources, responsibilities and the state of their service to the Director of Community Healthcare Operations (DCHO) and the Public Health & Engagement Manager or their deputies, as required.
• Cascading information to local staff in the event of an incident.

(The DCHO or nominated deputy will lead the BCI response out of hours)

Cyprus Community Healthcare Service: Professional Leads

• Supporting the OMT in ensuring that clinical best practice and emerging clinical evidence for their lead area are factored into the response to any emergency or incident.

Cyprus Community Healthcare Service: DCHO Personal Assistant, or other nominated Headquarters Administrator

• Ensuring that all decisions and actions agreed by the OMT are logged, using the Decision Log template at Annex G as the basis for this decision and the action log, to be filed within the Cyprus OMT Folder on SSAFA365.
• Ensuring all SitReps received are filed within the Cyprus OMT Folder  on SSAFA365.

BCP Training and Exercise

• SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare staff should be updated about the location and content of the BCP.
• SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare staff will participate in any BCP Command exercises, where appropriate, and any lessons learned will be incorporated into a revision of this BCP.
• The BCP will be routinely discussed at the SSAFA Cyprus OMT and Governance Meeting to ensure that any individuals named within the Plan understand their responsibilities.

Activation of the BCP

Notification of Loss of/Disruption to an essential service during working hours:

• If any member of the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team becomes aware that any kind of service disruption or loss is affecting service provision, they should inform their Line Manager who, in turn, should notify DCHO.
• If the disruption or loss cannot be resolved within the station and is related to IT or Estates, the manager should notify the Authority’s designated officer via DCHO.
• If the disruption or loss cannot be resolved promptly and is adversely affecting service provision, or it is having a wider impact upon the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team, DCHO should:
• Notify the Authority (Commander Medical and J1).
• Contact the Station Commander(s), advising of the service disruption/failure; and
• Contact the Help Desk in working hours through single point of contact (SPOC) on 188 (military) or 0370 6008910 (non-military), if there is a loss of telephones or IT.

Notification of Loss of/Disruption to an essential service out of hours:

• Notify DCHO who will notify the OMT or the relevant Locality Team Leader, as appropriate, and contact Station Commander(s) via the Duty Officer(s).
• Where disruption to a service or the potential for the incident to be prolonged and is likely to affect the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team on the next working, DCHO will authorise the activation of this BCP.
• DCHO may decide to notify the relevant Command personnel. Where access to premises is likely to be affected on the next working day, the relevant Locality Team Leader and/or Line Manager should notify those affected using the emergency contact list.

4. BCP Training and Exercise

SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare staff should be updated about the location and content of the BCP.

SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare staff will participate in any BCP Command exercises, where appropriate, and any lessons learned will be incorporated into a revision of this BCP.

The BCP will be routinely discussed at the SSAFA Cyprus OMT and Governance Meeting to ensure that any individuals named within the Plan understand their responsibilities.

5.    Activation of the BCP

a. Notification of Loss of/Disruption to an essential service during working hours:

If any member of the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team becomes aware that any kind of service disruption or loss is affecting service provision, they should inform their Line Manager who, in turn, should notify DCHO.

If the disruption or loss cannot be resolved within the station and is related to IT or Estates, the manager should notify the Authority’s designated officer via DCHO.

If the disruption or loss cannot be resolved promptly and is adversely affecting service provision, or it is having a wider impact upon the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team, DCHO should:

• Notify the Authority (Commander Medical and J1).
• Contact the Station Commander(s), advising of the service disruption/failure; and
• Contact the Help Desk in working hours through single point of contact (SPOC) on 188 (military) or 0370 6008910 (non-military), if there is a loss of telephones or IT.

b. Notification of Loss of/Disruption to an essential service out of hours:

• Notify DCHO who will notify the OMT or the relevant Locality Team Leader, as appropriate, and contact Station Commander(s) via the Duty Officer(s).
• Where disruption to a service or the potential for the incident to be prolonged and is likely to affect the SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare team on the next working, DCHO will authorise the activation of this BCP.
• DCHO may decide to notify the relevant Command personnel. Where access to premises is likely to be affected on the next working day, the relevant Locality Team Leader and/or Line Manager should notify those affected using the emergency contact list.

6. Alternative Premises

Each service has considered alternative accommodation arrangements within their local area should premises become unavailable or inaccessible for a period of time.  SSAFA Cyprus Community Healthcare Headquarters functions will relocate to the area identified by the Station. Some staff are able to work remotely from home.

7. Public Relations

SSAFA has a responsibility to provide timely, accurate information to all staff, the Authority, stakeholders, patients, the public and the local media in the event of significant service disruption or failure. All contact with the press and media will be with approval from DCHO and/or the Director of Marketing & Communications.

8. Stand down and recovery

A BCI remains active until notification is given by DCHO that it has ended.  A BCI should not be stood down until a recovery plan has been developed by the OMT, with input from the Professional Leads, and has been disseminated to all staff to ensure that services return to full operational capability in a safe and systematic way.  

9. Post Incident Debrief and Review Process

Following an incident where this BCP has been activated, a post incident debrief will be organised for all staff involved in the incident, following which a debrief report will be issued. SSAFA will also be a participant and share in any BFC debrief as appropriate. It is recognised that it is essential to learn from the experiences gained from implementing the contingency plans and ensure that the lessons learned are embedded into future policy and practice.

10. Legislation and Healthcare Standards

The Plan accords with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (updated August 2019) and also Care Quality Commission (CQC) Key Lines of Enquiry requirements, notably:

Key Line of Enquiry  Safety:

S5 - ‘How well are potential risks to the service anticipated and planned for in advance? How are potential risks taken into account when planning services, for example, seasonal fluctuations in demand, the impact of adverse weather, or disruption to staffing? What arrangements are in place to respond to emergencies and major incidents? How often are these practised and reviewed?’  

Key Line of Enquiry  Well Led:

W5 - ‘Are there clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance?’ and

W5.5 - ‘Are potential risks taken into account when planning services, for example seasonal or other expected or unexpected fluctuations in demand, or disruption to staffing or facilities?’

Under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), NHS organisations and subcontractors must show that they can deal with BCIs while maintaining services to patients. This work is referred to in the health community as ‘emergency preparedness resilience and response’ (EPRR). This is reinforced within the Health and Social Care Act (2012).

11. Review Period

This Plan will be reviewed annually or following lessons learned from an incident, exercise or changes to UK legislation or SSAFA procedures. The responsible manager or manager on duty at the time of the incident will conduct this review, in conjunction with the Cyprus OMT.

References

The following documents have been examined in producing this Plan:

ISO 22301:2019: Security and Resilience - Business Continuity Management Systems - Requirements

BFC Headquarters Business Continuity Plan

Cabinet Office: Chapter 6: Business Continuity Management  Revision to Emergency Preparedness (2004, updated March 2012)

NHS Commissioning Board: Business Continuity Management Framework (service resilience) (2013)

The Charities Commission: Charities and risk management (CC26)

The Guardian: Voluntary Sector Network Zone - Planning for and dealing with major incidents