One of Cambridge Risk Solutions’ most interesting projects has been conducting a Business Impact Analysis for a large Acute Hospital. This involved a mixture of one-to-one meetings with various Directors and Senior Managers and discussion groups with other staff members over a period of 4 weeks.
Initially respondents suggested that the hospital would have to try to maintain almost all clinical activities but, as the analysis progressed, it became clear that most of these, including A&E admissions, could be suspended if absolutely necessary without a severe long-term impact on patients or the Trust. This allowed resources to be focused on the most critical activity – the care of seriously ill patients who were already in the hospital and couldn’t be moved.
The analysis also revealed that some key ‘back-office’ functions such as bed management and organising locum staff were more time critical than had been previously appreciated and needed careful consideration in the Business Continuity plan.
