Event Medical Provision – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Choosing a medical provider

Event organiser must decide on the scope of cover to be provided; may range from simple first aid with reliance on NHS for anything more serious to a full and comprehensive service with most presentations managed and discharged on site.

Medical providers need as much information about the event as the organiser can provide before tendering. Numbers attending, activities on site, location, access and egress, whether there is overnight camping, known hazards and likely issues, historical casualty data, etc. With this information, they can conduct a medical risk assessment and draft a costed medical plan and infrastructure specification.

Organisers should compare submissions from various providers and ask questions about how and why they differ. The local NHS ambulance service can give useful guidance and early engagement with them is advised.

Event organisers have to balance the level of cover provided and the aspiration to reduce the impact of their event on the local NHS against cost considerations and may need to “meet the provider in the middle”.

NHS ambulance services cannot recommend specific providers but can point out shortcomings in submitted plans and advise where further clarity is needed.

A good medical provider

Event organisers want to provide a good customer experience and the safety and welfare of those attending is paramount. As well as providing effective and reliable medical cover at the event, a good provider can support the event in other ways such as advising on and planning mitigating potential health threats, infection prevention and control measures, reporting health and safety hazards and working closely with welfare, safeguarding and other services on site. This support will be most effective if the medical provider is made part of the event delivery team and involved throughout the planning phase as well as the show itself.

After the event a good provider will seek feedback from NHS teams on the impact of the event and their services on the local healthcare community and produce a detailed report of all aspects of medical activity associated with the event to aid future planning.

EMA will consider developing systems of peer review of members’ services and mutual aid to provide additional or specialist capacity at events.

Existing and future regulation

An Event Healthcare Standard is being developed but in the meantime there is only advice and guidance.

Safety Advisory groups and NHS organisations have no statutory powers and can only advise. In extreme situations, ambulance and other emergency services may advise refusal of a licence (where one is needed) unless planned medical provision on site is improved.

SAGs vary greatly around the country in the degree to which they scrutinise event licensing; for some events, none is convened. Emergency services do not have an agenda to stop events happening; their role is to help, support and advise.