Ensuring business continuity

Under the Civil Contingencies Act, all Category 1 responders including Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) must write, develop, maintain and test their own Business Continuity Management (BCM) plans. This means that the Police, Fire, Ambulance and Local Councils all have to have BCM plans for their own organisations.

Liverpool PCT's Emergency Planning Unit is responsible for co-ordinating and facilitating the development of Business Continuity Plans internally, in addition to their Emergency Planning duties. The PCT is also responsible for ensuring that key health providers also have robust BCM plans in place.


Business Continuity Management - what does it mean to you?

BCM is about identifying what aspects of your organisation's activities and resources are essential, and planning how your business would continue in the event of an emergency. The plan would aim to get key services back up and operating with the minimum of delay. For instance, if the service dealt with the care of the elderly and/or vulnerable people, it is very important that the service be fully restored as soon as possible.
In essence BCM allows any organisation to manage risks and ensure that it can continue to deliver its essential services during periods when normal day to day activities may be disrupted.

The Civil Contingencies Act promotes all organisations to be more resilient; Business Continuity Management is part of the overall risk management framework that the organisations can use to reduce "operational risk".