Explore the critical elements of Incident Management Teams, including leadership, membership, and operational strategies for effective outbreak management.
The establishment of Incident Management Teams (IMTs) is crucial for managing public health outbreaks. This guide provides a comprehensive resource for setting up and operating IMTs, ensuring effective coordination and response to infectious disease outbreaks.
IMTs play a vital role in protecting public health by identifying the source and cause of infections, coordinating control measures, and reducing transmission.
They also contribute to future outbreak management by identifying lessons learned and improving evidence-based approaches.
The Role and Objectives of Incident Management Teams
The primary aim of an IMT is to safeguard public health by identifying and controlling the spread of infectious diseases.
Key objectives include:
- Securing appropriate membership and defining roles within the IMT
- Reviewing epidemiological, microbiological, and environmental evidence to verify outbreaks
- Developing a dynamic awareness of risks associated with the outbreak
- Implementing tactical and strategic approaches to outbreak investigation and control
- Ensuring ethical and health equity considerations in decision-making
- Allocating responsibilities for investigation, control measures, and communication
- Ensuring proportionate and equitable implementation of control measures
- Supporting regulatory activities and addressing funding requirements
- Managing communication with stakeholders and the public
- Determining the end of an outbreak based on ongoing risk assessments
- Producing reports and identifying lessons learned for future practice
- Making recommendations for system improvements to prevent future incidents
Leadership and Membership of Incident Management Teams
The leadership and membership of an IMT are determined by the nature and scale of the outbreak, the population at risk, and the infectious disease agent involved. The IMT chair, typically a consultant in health protection or a principal health protection practitioner, provides strategic leadership and facilitates effective coordination.
Membership includes representatives from various organizations such as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) local authorities, NHS trusts, and other relevant agencies. The IMT may also include additional members based on the specific needs of the outbreak, such as emergency planning leads, national topic experts, and community representatives.
Typical Membership of an IMT
The typical membership of an IMT includes:
- Consultant in health protection (UKHSA)
- Environmental health lead/officer (local authority)
- Director of public health (local authority)
- Field Services consultant epidemiologist or senior epidemiologist (UKHSA)
- Field Services consultant in public health infection (UKHSA)
- Field Services data/epidemiological scientist (UKHSA)
- Microbiologist (NHS Trust)
- NHS commissioner (NHS England/integrated care board)
- Relevant service provider(s) (NHS/local authority/other)
- Communications officer (nominated communications lead organization)
- Administrative support (organization leading outbreak management)
Additional Members
Depending on the nature of the outbreak, additional members may be required, including:
- Emergency planning and preparedness lead
- National topic-specific expert
- Food water and environment microbiologist/scientist
- Health protection surveillance/information officer
- Infection prevention and control (IPC) representative
- Reference microbiology services representative
- Relevant regional health equity lead
- Ambulance trust representative
- Community IPC nurse (NHS or local authority)
- IPC lead (NHS)
- Integrated care board (ICB) representative (NHS)
- Legal advisor and/or data protection advisor (UKHSA or local authority as appropriate)
- Local authority education department (local authority)
- Emergency planning (NHS or local authority)
- NHS England regional team (NHSE) representative
- NHS consultant from relevant specialty (NHS) or general practitioner (NHS)
- NHS medical microbiologist, pathologist, or clinical scientist (NHS)
- Pharmaceutical advisors (medicines management/optimization)
- Police representative
- Water company representative
- Port health function/service
- Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) representative
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) representative
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) representative
- Department for Education (DfE) representative
- Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) representative
- Environment Agency (EA) representative
- Food Standards Agency (FSA) representative or Food Standards Scotland (FSS) representative
- Health and Safety Executive (HSE) representative
- His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) representative
- Home Office (HO) representative
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) representative
- Senior health protection representative for Devolved Administrations
- Representative from affected setting
- Representative from voluntary community or social enterprise (VCSE) with experience or links to relevant population or group
Meetings and Administration
The frequency and format of IMT meetings are determined by the dynamic risk assessment. Meetings can be held in person or virtually, with administrative support provided by the lead agency. Meeting minutes should include a log of attendees, a summary of the outbreak context, considerations, decisions, and subsequent actions.
Data protection is a critical aspect of IMT operations. Any use of artificial intelligence tools, video, audio, or transcript recording must be agreed upon by members and stored securely. Minutes are shared for the purpose of managing the outbreak and are not for onward sharing without the permission of the chair.
Specific cells or sub-teams may be established to support the IMT, depending on the nature and scale of the outbreak. The IMT will always have primacy in decision-making and coordination.
