How staff at Noble’s Hospital would react to a major incident will be put to the test this week (Wednesday 12 July), when an all-day exercise takes place at Keyll Darree training centre.

The exercise is being put together by Dr Gareth Davies, a London-based Manx medical professional who frequently returns to the Island to assist in motorsport events.

Dr Davies is a leading consultant in emergency medicine and has appeared in a range of TV shows as medical director of London’s Air Ambulance service. The UK’s first ever consultant in pre-hospital care, he has continued to lead a team that has pioneered the development of pre-hospital emergency medicine, taking the emergency department into the streets where patients need it most.

A remarkable career has seen Dr Davies lead teams at many of London’s major incidents, including the Paddington, Southall and Potters Bar rail disasters, IRA and 7/7 bombings and most recently the terrorist attacks at Westminster and London Bridge.

He has recently taken up a post at Noble’s Hospital as emergency department consultant but continues to act as medical director to London’s Air Ambulance, splitting his time equally between the two roles.

The event on Wednesday is described as a ‘table-top’ exercise, where hospital staff will be presented with a scenario and asked to react to a developing situation.

A core command centre will provide the focus of the exercise, where a commander will lead a team of key clinicians. Present in other rooms at Keyll Darree will be hospital officials with a range of responsibilities reacting to events through the use of action cards.

Tabards will be used to clearly identify a person’s role while helping others taking part in the exercise to understand what is expected of them as a situation develops.

These types of exercises are designed to pose questions a given scenario may throw up, as well as clarifying roles and responsibilities in order to stress-test procedures and shape any training requirements.

Photo - Dr Gareth Davies.