Hospitals 'would not cope with chemical attack'

Large parts of the NHS would be unable to cope with a chemical, biological or nuclear terrorist attack, a report published today shows.

Poor planning, inadequate training and a lack of specialised equipment has left many NHS trusts unprepared for attacks using poison gas, nuclear "dirty bombs" or biological weapons, the National Audit Office says.

In a survey last month, nearly 40 per cent of hospital trusts said they were insufficiently prepared to cope with a nuclear or radiological attack. One in five was unprepared for chemical or biological incidents and one in 10 believed it was unprepared for dealing with an incident involving more than 500 casualties.

Problems included radios which failed because of faulty batteries, and plans for dealing with nuclear emergencies were untested in four fifths of cases.

The Audit Office also found widespread concern among ambulance trusts, with nearly 40 per cent admitting they were ill-prepared for biological or radioactive attacks. Some trusts fared better than others, but the survey revealed the NHS in London would be "challenged" by a large-scale attack.

Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, admitted yesterday that more needed to be done to prepare for terrorist attacks and said ministers were stepping up preparations to deal with a terrorist outrage. "The NHS is better prepared than it has ever been, although there is still much work to do," he said. "We are in new territory here. No local manager in the NHS has ever had to deal with casualties from the release of a dirty bomb."

He said exercises to simulate dirty bomb and nerve gas attacks would be staged to train emergency services and posters would be displayed to warn the public how to react if poison gas or radioactive material were released.

Sir Liam said 30 million doses of the smallpox vaccine were being stored while stockpiles of antibiotics to combat anthrax and plague outbreaks were being built up. Thousands of portable oxygen units have been brought in to cope with a chemical attack. A team of specialists was being trained to take control of major incidents around the country.