Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health

’[T]his book should be considered core reading for anyone involved in the planning or delivery of major incidents, as well as clinicians and other healthcare professionals who are likely to be involved in caring for patients affected by such events.’ Thomas Falconer Hall, Medicine, Conflict and Survival

Professor Richard Williams OBE, TD, is Emeritus Professor of Mental Health Strategy in the Welsh Institute for Health and Social Care at the University of South Wales, UK. He was previously Presidential Lead on Disaster Management for the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 2008 to 2014 and 2017 to 2020, Presidential Lead on COVID-19, Emergency Preparedness and Mental Health from 2020 to 2023, Director of the Psychosocial and Mental Health Programme of the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 2018 to 2022 and an adviser to NHS England through the H1N1 and COVID-19 Pandemics.

Ms Verity Kemp is an independent consultant specialising in emergency preparedness, resilience, and response, with prior senior management experience in the NHS and healthcare management working at all levels from hospital to central government. In the early 21st Century, she managed the review of NHS emergency planning guidance while associated with the Department of Health’s Emergency Preparedness Division.

Professor Sir Keith Porter CStJ, is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Traumatology in the University of Birmingham, and a former Consultant Trauma Surgeon and major trauma clinical lead for Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and the West Midlands Trauma Network. He was also civilian clinical lead for interface between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, UK. He was also Chairman of Trauma Care and co-founder of citizenAID, and Honorary Colonel of 202 Field Hospital RAMC.

Dr Tim Healing initially trained in zoology and studied the role of disease in the population dynamics of island dwelling rodents. He trained in clinical microbiology at the Royal London Hospital. He was on the staff of the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre before working for thirty years in humanitarian aid with NGOs and the UN. He ran the Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine Course at the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.

Professor John Drury is Professor of Social Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, UK. He teaches psychology for crowd safety to the UK’s Fire and Rescue Services and to crowd safety managers. His research on collective resilience informs the Civil Contingencies Secretariat’s National Risk Assessments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he participated in the Independent Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) that reported to the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).