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Chapter 56 - ‘Plans Are Worthless, but Planning is Everything’: Lessons from Science and Experience

from Section 7 - Key Lessons for the Way Forward

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

By
Richard Williams ,
Keith Porter ,
Tim Healing ,
Verity Kemp  and
John Drury
Edited by
Richard Williams ,
Verity Kemp ,
Keith Porter ,
Tim Healing  and
John Drury
Richard Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp
Affiliation:
Independent Health Emergency Planning Consultant
Keith Porter
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Tim Healing
Affiliation:
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
John Drury
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Summary

The editors create an agenda of themes for developing services and practitioners, and for research capable of responding to psychosocial aspects of emergencies, incidents, disasters, and disease outbreaks (EIDD) and their deleterious effects. Topics include the perspectives of scientists, practitioners, and the public, the historical importance of how current capabilities have developed, the critical theme of agreeing definitions, recognising the wellbeing, psychosocial, and mental health agendas that face survivors of EIDD in their recovery, the fallacies of basing planning on panic and the belief that survivors of subsequent EIDD fare better than first timers, and the importance of good communication within and between agencies and then with the public, and of teams and their leadership. It recognises the lessons from the social sciences, and the importance of social support, psychological safety, and our relationships in our recovery. This book strongly supports the notion that there is no health without mental health.

Keywords

definitionsextreme teamingleadershipmental health agendapre-hospital emergency medicinepsychosocial agendateamswellbeing agenda
Type
Chapter
Information
Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health
The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks
 , pp. 423 - 437
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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