Road fuel emergency plan

1 Introduction

A shortage of road fuel may be the result of a several different risks, for example, severe weather, damage to fuel infrastructure or supply lines and industrial action by tanker drivers or refinery staff. In 2000 British farmers and truck drivers launched a campaign of direct action to protest against fuel duty. This led to blockades of fuel refineries and distribution depots with serious knock-on effects at petrol stations.

The effects of a fuel shortage on the trust are likely to increase in impact as the duration of a shortage increases. The trust delivers a large number of services in the community and relies on staff using their own transport to get to and from work. However, a large proportion of non-patient facing staff are now agile workers and able to work from home. This may reduce the impact on some services. However, there is likely to be an impact on patient facing staff and patients who are unable to attend clinics.

A prolonged disruption to fuel supplies without the activation of the national emergency plan for fuel (NEP-F) presents a greater risk to the trust as it would be forced to rely on business continuity plans without the mitigations provided by the NEP-F.

The trust EPRR risk register assigns the risk of fuel shortage as high impact and medium likelihood.

The NHS England core standards for emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) state that trusts must have plans in place to mitigate the effects of a road fuel shortage.

This plan sets out the trust response to a road fuel shortage in order to minimise its impacts where possible.

2 Aim of plan

The aim of this plan is to formalise how the trust will respond to a fuel disruption. It includes response to a potential or short period of disruption of up to a week and also to a longer period where the trust may need to adopt procedures to fit with government emergency powers.

The response to a disruption to fuel supply will be in proportion to the scale of the disruption, principal aims being to:

protect patients, and employees from the effects of the disruption when possible
be prepared for the risks that have been identified
supply an understanding of the legal aspects of priority user schemes
give advice to employees, secondees, volunteers and students with regard to the maximum purchase scheme (MPS) and designated filling station scheme (DFS)
provide a fuel reduction strategy which can be implemented during a shortage as part of business continuity arrangements
support the continuity of the trust’s services as far as possible
support the continuity of everyday services and activities as far as possible
promote the return to normal service at the earliest but feasible possible opportunity

3 Implementation of plan

This plan is divided into two parts.

Part 1, Forecasted or minor fuel disruption. The actions and guidance for trust response to a fuel shortage before the point at which national plans are activated.

Part 2, The actions and guidance for responding to a fuel shortage once the national emergency plan for fuel (NEP-F) has been activated. This part of the plan will be implemented when national notification of a potential or actual fuel shortage or disruption has been received by the trust via NHS England. This would invoke a number of special arrangements that are described below.

4 Stages of a national fuel shortage

There are four levels of fuel disruption as described in the national emergency plan for fuel (NEP-F). These are identified below:

false alarm, a situation where there is no basis for alarm
minimal disruptions, where government intervention is maintaining normal levels of fuel supply
some disruptions to come, panic buying of fuel is occurring and there may be a shortage of fuel. The government may ask consumers to use less fuel or may take the decision to use measures to control demand or supply but these are not yet in force
introduction of controls over demand or supply, the government takes the decision to use measures to control demand or supply

5 Business impact analysis

The business impact analysis below gives a general overview of the most likely effects and impacts on key services:

Key areas	Impact
People	Staff or volunteers may be unable to attend work due to lack of fuel and poor public transport availability or connectivity. Patients unable to attend clinics in person would require adjustments to services such as increased home visits, online consultations or postponement or cancellation of appointments. Staff in non-critical services may be required to cover for critical services raising issues of training and health and safety. Other staff may become exhausted due to increased workload covering those unable to attend. Longer shift patterns may increase other risks. Administering fuel logos in the event that the national emergency plan for fuel is activated would impose an administrative burden on each team using them. Staff may be reassigned to base point nearer to their home in order to reduce fuel needs. See policy relating to staff attendance in periods of inclement weather or disruption to public transport.
Providers	Contractors, external providers and external suppliers may not have adequate business continuity arrangements to be able to continue to provide goods and services. for example: patient transport domestics pharmacy PPE supplies equipment servicing from external providers.
Profile	Reputation risk due to requirement to prioritise critical services may impact on others. Legal and statutory obligations, for example, Civil Contingencies Act and Mental Health Act. These must be followed in all cases. Unable to maintain statutory and regulatory requirements if organisation unable to deliver critical services.
Processes	IT, communications systems (phones, email). Process themselves should be unaffected, staffing levels need to be maintained to ensure processes are sustained.
Premises	Staffing levels required to support maintenance of buildings and equipment may be affected.

This business impact assessment gives an overview of the impacts the trust could face predominantly in the short term. However, if the fuel disruption continues for a longer period of time (more than 7 days) then it is likely that it may become necessary for the trust to scale back delivery of some services in order to continue to deliver critical 24 hours and 7 days services.

6 Effects of a disruption to fuel on the trust

6.1 Minimal disruptions

In the event of the trust being informed of a potential fuel disruption the communications cascade at appendix A will be implemented with the aim of preventing the risk of ‘panic buying’. Services should run as normal at this point.

6.2 Some disruptions to come

In the event of a minor fuel shortage the communications cascade would be implemented with the aim to reinforce the message that panic buying of fuel may lead to escalation of the problem and to a major fuel shortage. Previous experience shows that some areas can experience shortages while others are unaffected.

A brief period of shortage should not affect services adversely but there would be a requirement that staff should work as flexibly as possible in order to conserve fuel.

6.3 Introduction of controls over demand or supply

In the event of a major fuel shortage or as the shortage develops the government may implement emergency powers under the Energy Act 1976. This may include the activation of the national emergency plan for fuel (NEP-F). This may mean that the trust must implement special arrangements, for example, temporarily scaling down services until further notice.

Situation reporting to a trust gold command will be required at this stage with care group directors or silver commanders and their equivalents in corporate teams collating information on how fuel shortage is affecting delivery of services.

Teams will be required to consider changes to normal operating procedures in order to ensure critical services are delivered. This may see teams re-adopting amendments to services similar to those seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to minimise staff travel. In North Lincolnshire business continuity plans were written to mitigate the effects of traffic disruption during the planning for a no deal Brexit. This involved staff planning patient visits, so they served patients near their home to conserve fuel.

Business continuity plans contain details of the type of fuel staff use. It is likely that this information will need to be re-clarified at the beginning of any fuel shortage incident in order to understand the main areas of risk across the trust. The trust does not hold any stocks of road fuel.

Supplies of diesel may be made available via mutual aid by other agencies such as council or ambulance service but at the time of writing no formal agreements had been made and this should not be depended upon.

In the event that the government activates the NEP-F (see part 2 of the plan below) some non-critical trust services may need to be temporarily discontinued. The longer the shortage continues it is more likely that non-critical services may need to be suspended. trust gold command will clarify the rationale for prioritisation of services to ensure silver and bronze levels of command are able to make appropriate decisions. Adjustment or closure of services would need to be approved by trust gold command. A template for care groups to fill in to request approval to close or adjust a service is included in the appendices.

7 Part 1 of plan, forecasted or minor disruption to fuel supply

Part 1 of this plan contains guidance and actions to be undertaken in the event of a forecasted or minor disruption to fuel supplies.

In the event of a potential minor disruption to the supply of fuel the trust will communicate with staff, providing them with instructions and guidance to mitigate the impacts of disruption.

This will ensure that staff are prepared and also reinforce the message of responsible fuel purchasing which will potentially prevent a minor disruption becoming significant. It is likely in some circumstances some level of strategic (gold) level oversight of preparations and contingencies will be required.

Managers (bronze) in liaison with care group directors and equivalents (silver) should:

ascertain if their contractors and external suppliers have business continuity arrangements in place. This should be done in coordination with each other and with the trust Procurement team to prevent duplication of effort
NHS England would be likely to seek assurance that business continuity arrangements are in place and may ask for situation reports about the level of preparedness
care group directors and managers may be asked to submit information on their current fuel status including estimations of future fuel use. A template situation report for silver commands is included in the appendices
check information in team business continuity plans containing details of the type of fuel used by staff is up to date. They may be asked to re-submit it to the business continuity and EPRR manager or gold command as this may be required by NHS England to understand the impact of any prolonged period of shortage

All staff messages given in this type of scenario would include:

buy fuel normally in order to avoid creating additional problems
prioritise car use to ensure that you do not use fuel unnecessarily. If on call, ensure you have enough fuel to last for that period
drive sensibly to conserve fuel avoiding over revving the vehicle
try not to carry unnecessary weight in the car
use public transport, walk or cycle where possible
where possible consider car sharing for commuting, appointments and meetings
use MS teams rather than have face to face meetings
work from home where possible and agreed

Messages should be communicated sensibly avoiding the potential to cause panic but emphasised repeatedly to ensure they are being followed. These may be disseminated via:

all staff communications email
manager team meetings
on screen popup messaging
trust intranet

In preparation for a more prolonged period of fuel shortage Managers should ensure that all staff are aware of their team business continuity arrangements. Managers should prepare in advance for the need to prioritise services where possible and consider more flexible working patterns to minimise car journeys wherever possible.

8 Part 2 of plan, actual fuel shortage

Part 2 of this plan covers actions that may be taken in the event of a national fuel shortage of 10 days or over. In such circumstances the trust may activate its own arrangements following the activation of the national emergency plan for fuel (NEP-F). In these circumstances declaration of a critical incident should be considered as well as activation of the trust major incident plan in order to ensure coordination of response. In any case a trust gold command is required to coordinate response to the incident.

The NEP-F must be in force before temporary fuel logos etc can be issued by the trust. The NEP-F can only be activated by government.

In the event of an actual fuel emergency that does not trigger the activation of the NEP-F by government, the trust will still be required to make decisions around service prioritisation that may result in non-critical services being suspended. It may use information below on car sharing, transport between sites, visiting patients and flexible working to ensure services are delivered. This may mean the trust declares a critical incident, see trust major incident plan.

9 Car Sharing

During fuel disruption the trust will encourage staff to car share. Staff having problems travelling to work, are to contact their manager in advance who will try to match them up with another member of staff living in the same area working on the same day. A degree of flexibility on start and finish times will be needed. Team business continuity plans hold details of where staff members live and will assist the planning process. All car sharing should be considered within the COVID-19 guidelines that are appropriate at the time.

10 Transport between sites and to patients

In the event of fuel disruption, staff will be encouraged to car share, use public transport wherever possible or to consider telephone consultations or make use of Microsoft teams in order to carry out normal duties. Where possible and appropriate, staff should make arrangements with their line manager to attend work at the nearest practicable trust site.

11 Flexible shifts and working from home

During fuel disruption flexible working patterns will be needed. Managers should be sensitive to problems staff may have regarding being at work at certain times due to transport arrangements if they must use public transport.

Temporary changes to shift patterns may be required during the period of disruption. Increasing the length of the working day and reducing the number of shifts or days worked is a possible way of reducing fuel consumption for staff. Any changes should be balanced against issues of patient and staff safety and agreed with care group directors or equivalents.

Some staff may find that they find it difficult to attend work due to them residing a significant distance from their workplace. In such situations they should come to an arrangement with their line manager as appropriate to their circumstances.

Non-clinical staff, staff in some administration functions such as human resources, IT, finance and some management staff will be able to work from home, however sufficient on-site cover should be maintained as is necessary.

12 Staff accommodation

The trust may need to provide overnight accommodation which could potentially be used for key staff during fuel disruption. Staff who may benefit from accommodation may be: on-call staff, staff working consecutive days who have to travel a long distance to work and clinical staff working consecutive late or early shifts.

In such circumstances trust gold command will liaise with Estates and with local hotels to ensure accommodation is available.

13 Monitoring and declaring fuel requirements

During a fuel disruption the trust will be required to declare its fuel requirements to NHS England. The trust may be asked to monitor the amount of fuel the organisation utilises for both routine use and use for critical services only. This may require the submission of data via situation report. It is likely that frequent and detailed requests for information will be sought by NHS England.

Care group directors or equivalents will collate data for each directorate via liaison with their team managers or modern matrons. This will then be sent to trust gold command for collation and submission to NHS England. Extra administrative resources will be required to facilitate this request.

Collecting such information is likely to be a lengthy process so managers will consider any request for information as a high priority in order to meet situation report deadlines.

14 Communications

The NEP-F (available via the business continuity and EPRR manager) contains details of a communication strategy that the department for business, energy and industrial strategy BEIS) would use once the NEP-F is triggered. The focus of the communication strategy will vary depending on the situation. For most situations in the lead up to any potential disruption, it is likely that the initial focus will be providing a position statement.

Where possible, the trust will receive 48 hours’ notice that all or part of the national plan is to be put in to action.

Care should be taken when producing messages for staff during a disruption or potential disruption of fuel. Inaccurate and inappropriate messages to trust employees may have the effect of exacerbating rumours and causing panic buying. Panic buying of fuel may either create a problem where there was not one or exacerbate an existing problem.

In the event of disruption or potential disruption to fuel a full briefing on response will be agreed by trust gold command and cascaded to all staff.

Care group directors or equivalents will be advised on action the trust may take and given any central messages received by the trust. They will then cascade this information to managers who will cascade to staff in their teams.

It is important that any information that the trust gives out in the event of fuel disruption is in line with that given by government and NHS England in order to maintain consistency and public confidence:

all communication will be agreed with and co-ordinated by the head of communications
messages to staff will be given via their line managers and via the trust all staff email, intranet, website and team meetings
any correspondence with the media must be conducted through the trust Communications team

A trust communications cascade diagram can be found in appendix A.

15 Trust roles and responsibilities

15.1 Accountable emergency officer

The accountable emergency officer (or deputy) is responsible for receiving notification from NHS England area teams declaring a disruption to fuel in the area and will:

ensure that business continuity arrangements pay due and proper attention to potential fuel shortages and staff depletion
give advice on impending fuel shortages in conjunction with emergency planning officer
in consultation with other directors and the emergency planning officer consider whether the trust should declare a critical or major incident and convene a trust gold command
chair trust old command in line with major incident plan arrangements in the event of a major fuel disruption

15.2 Business continuity and EPRR manager

Will ensure that the trust road fuel plan is reviewed annually and updated as new information emerges.
Inform the Executive Management team (EMT) and care group directors in the event of a fuel disruption.
Will hold secure a copy of the national emergency plan for fuel (NEP-F) and request a copy of the temporary logo when made available by BEIS.
Will assist with the implementation of the temporary logo scheme and emergency services scheme in the event that the NEP-F is activated.

15.3 Care group directors, care group nurse directors, and silver commanders

Oversee the effective implementation of this plan within their care group providing tactical level coordination of information and services.
Implement action plans agreed by directors or trust gold command where relevant.
Cascade communications messages to managers or modern matrons
Ensure managers or modern matrons have effective plans in place to manage staffing and activity during a fuel shortage in line with their business continuity plans.
Ensure all managers or modern matrons within the directorate are able to manage the issue and retrieval of temporary logos to staff if the NEP-F is activated.

15.4 Head of facilities and estates

If the NEP-F is activated assign suitable managers to administer temporary logos to non NHS logoed vehicles where they are required to perform critical functions.
Ensure contingencies are in place for diesel oil to enable operation of emergency electrical generators located at trust premises.

15.5 Head of communications

Coordinate media correspondence.
Coordinate communications to trust staff.
Participate in gold command when required.

15.6 Team managers, modern matrons, and bronze commanders

Ensure staff are aware of their responsibilities to conserve fuel.
Manage flexibility within shift patterns.
Ensure the management of temporary logo scheme where required.
Team leaders for inpatient units to consider early discharge to cater for possible reduced levels of staff.
Ensure arrangements are in place for maintaining continuity of services.
Implement actions as dictated by care group directors (silver) where required and provide information for situation reports (sitreps) to deadline.
Identify staff who may work either at home or closer to home.
Brief staff of the situation, any new developments and trust actions.

15.7 Employees

Prioritise journeys, avoid unnecessary journeys.
Utilise other means of transport where possible such as public transport, car sharing (where COVID-19 restrictions allow), walking or cycling to work.
Where the staff member has inadequate fuel to make the journey to work, they should make every attempt to attend work by other means.
If all means have been exhausted and the staff member is unable to attend work, they should contact their line manager giving as much notice as possible before the planned shift to allow for re-scheduling or re-allocation to alternative place of work.

16 Description of NEP-F terminology

The following schemes may come into force when the NEP-F is activated by the government.

17 Maximum purchase scheme(MPS)

The MPS is aimed at the general public and is designed to provide them with a minimum fuel supply. It is intended to cater for non-critical workers and non NHS badged vehicles that will not require a temporary logo (see below).

Under emergency powers, the government may issue a scheme to limit the public to 15 litres of fuel per visit to a petrol station. This should be adequate for most staff to be able to travel to and from work.

Staff will need to reduce journeys that are non-essential and should be encouraged to use their vehicles sensibly. Staff will be expected to conserve fuel as far as possible to ensure that they can get to and from work.

If staff are unable to get into work despite the MPS, the procedures outlined in the “policy relating to attendance for duty during periods of inclement weather or disruption to the public transport system” would be followed.

18 Designated filling station scheme(DFS)

In this scheme designated fuel stations (DFS) will supply fuel to vehicles with an emergency service logo including NHS vehicles. This will allow NHS badged vehicles owned by the trust to be supplied with fuel. Patient transport vehicles that are clearly marked as such (for example, as ambulances) also come under this scheme.

The activation of a number of designated filling stations (DFS) will enable fuel supply to specific nominated priority temporary logo holders and to emergency services vehicles. A list of DFS sites will be issued to trusts via NHS England. The trust will then cascade this information to staff and ensure the temporary logo holders are made aware of the location of these stations to be able to obtain the fuel they need.

Fuel suppliers will give priority to these stations to maintain availability as far as possible for the priority users.

19 Temporary logo scheme(TLS)

Under the NEP-F government may implement the temporary logo scheme. In this scheme any DFS will supply fuel to vehicles with an emergency service logo. This will allow vehicles used by the trust to be supplied with fuel. This includes staff using their own vehicles to make critical journeys such as patient visits etc.

Temporary Logos may be issued for use by identified priority NHS staff who drive vehicles that do not have emergency service logos. It is made clear in the national emergency plan that this scheme should not be used to supply fuel to all staff for the normal purposes of getting to work. It is for critical journeys only.

Staff should first be encouraged to conserve fuel for commuting and car share, walk or utilise public transport. As the trust provides some 24 hours a day, 7 days a week services and has staff who visit patients in the community it may be necessary to utilise the temporary logo scheme to ensure service delivery. However, these services should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Should it be necessary to adjust or close a service this must be approved by trust gold command. A form is included in the appendices for this purpose.

In the event of the temporary logo scheme being implemented:

each care group will be allocated a number of temporary logos based on priority need for the period of the fuel disruption. The numbers required are included at appendix C
managers will ensure that staff are aware of their responsibilities when using temporary logos. Team managers or modern matrons will have overall responsibility for overseeing the issue of temporary logos, managing allocation within teams and the retrieval of logos and fuel receipts at a local level after each occasion they are used. This process will require a substantial amount of administration so managers should liaise with care group directors or equivalents to ensure resources are made available
a temporary Logo will be issued by the relevant manager or modern matron or deputy to the staff member for the purpose of one visit to the designated fuel station
after the visit to the fuel station the temporary logo will be immediately returned to the issuer with who will record and collect:
- the mileage of the car before and after each journey
- a copy of the receipt from the filling station verifying the amount of fuel obtained
- details of why the use of the logo was required
- logos must be signed in and out with times recorded
- the trust may be required to report usage to NHS England (NHSE)
- abuse of this scheme is a criminal offence and could lead to prosecution

20 Electric vehicles and charging points

As ownership of electric and hybrid vehicles increases the level of risk from a road fuel shortage decreases. Increasing numbers of estates vehicles are electric. A list of vehicle charging locations are listed below, these facilities are likely to be increased in the coming years:

20.1 Doncaster

Tickhill Road Site:
- Jubilee, 2 posts equals 4 charging points
- Opal, 2 posts equals 4 charging points
- Stores, 4 individual charging points for estates Nissan vehicles only

20.2 Scunthorpe

St Nicholas’s House, 1 post equals 2 charging points
Great Oaks, 2 pots equals 4 charging points

20.3 Rotherham

Swallownest Court, 2 posts equals 4 charging points

All charging points are 7Kw single phase.

21 Recovery

Recovery is defined as the procedure of rebuilding, restoring and rehabilitating the organisation as a whole post incident. In simpler terms it is replacing what has been lost or reduced and the rehabilitation of those affected, for example, staff that have been covering and maintaining the services during the disruption.

Recovery from a national fuel disruption may be a prolonged process depending on the length of the incident itself and the amount of disruption it causes to staff and services within the trust. As well as returning to normal service delivery, recovery should be used as a tool to learn from the event which has occurred and develop more efficient ways of coping if the procedures used did not work as well as first thought.

The trust will perform a staff debrief chaired by the accountable emergency officer to ascertain lessons learned and make improvements to this plan and to individual business continuity plans.

Recovery from a fuel disruption should begin at the earliest possible opportunity and this will run in unison with the trust’s response to the event. Recovery should continue until the disruption has ended. The trust major incident recovery plan should be referenced to ensure the prompt recovery of the organisation.

22 Documents and plans to be read in conjunction with this plan

22.1 Trust documents

Emergency planning quality impact assessment
Individual team business continuity plans
Major incident plan
Major incident recovery plan
Policy relating to attendance for duty during periods of inclement weather or disruption to the public transport system

National guidance

National emergency plan for fuel version 4 (2017)
Tips on saving petrol (opens in new window)

23 Reviewing of plan

A formal review of the plan will be undertaken every three years to ensure that arrangements remain valid, that training remains appropriate, that there is full commitment to the plan and that it remains up to date and in line with any national planning recommendations. If an event was to happen before this review date the plan will be updated in the recommended areas.

Additional reviews will be undertaken following:

significant service changes
EPRR exercises
activation of the plan

24 Exercises

Record details of exercise here:

Exercise name and type of scenario	Date	Location

25 Record of amendments

Amendment number	Amendment made	Date	Amendment by

26 Glossary

Definitions
Acronym	Long form
BCP	Business continuity plan
BDS	Bulk distribution scheme
BEIS	Department business, energy and industrial strategy
CCG	Clinical commissioning groups
DECC	Department for energy and climate change
DFS	Designated fuel stations
DH	Department of health
ESS	Emergency services scheme
LRF	Local resilience forum
MPS	Maximum purchase scheme
NCC	News coordination centre
NEP-F	National emergency plan, fuel
NHS	National health service
RED	Resilience and emergencies division (government)
SCG	Strategic coordinating groups
TLS	Temporary logo scheme

27 Appendices

27.1 Appendix A Communications cascade

Stage 1, an incident occurs that triggers BEIS to cascade the alert and key messages to NHS England and other emergency responders.
Stage 2, NHS England cascade to NHS England region.
Stage 3, NHS England region to cascade to RDaSH and other providers.
Stage 4, information received and considered by directors or gold command.
Stage 5, information cascaded by directors to care group directors or equivalent (silver commands).
Stage 6, care group directors cascade information to managers or modern matrons (bronze commanders).
Stage 7, managers or modern matrons cascade information to staff.

27.2 Appendix B Temporary logo scheme

Please ensure that you attach copies of the fuel receipts to this log prior to submission to head of planning

Appendix B Temporary logo scheme

Document control

Version: 8.1.
Unique reference number: 177.
Date ratified: Corporate policy approval group.
Ratified by: 21 December 2023.
Name of originator or author: Business continuity and EPRR. manager
Name of responsible individual: EPRR group.
Date issued: 21 December 2023.
Review date: August 2024.
Target audience: All staff.

Page last reviewed: May 14, 2024
Next review due: May 14, 2025

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