Technology Development for Disaster Planning and Response: The Development of an Interactive Website to Communicate and Coordinate Primary Health Providers for Planning and Response Purposes

Introduction:The Canterbury Primary Response Group (CPRG) was formed to provide a community-wide approach to manage, coordinate, plan for, and respond to health emergencies in the prehospital setting. Original communications within the CPRG group and to the primary sector were via email and the use of other organizations’ websites. These means were not easy to access and update content, and the group was depending on third parties.Aim:To outline the development of a primary health interactive website, provide up-to-date planning and event information, and provide information and support in relation to emergency planning for major emergency and non-emergency health events.Methods:The advancements of technology and planning practices have given CPRG the ability to develop information, planning, and operational reporting systems.Results:CPRG has developed a web-based portal that is available to primary health care (including community pharmacy) to provide planning assistance and templates as well as information on current events, such as the influenza season. It includes access to the CPRG suite of emergency plans and is a document repository for the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC). A further development has been a response management system for use in the CPRG EOC to assess any health situation and status of providers to enable a continually up-to-date dashboard and situational awareness reports to be visible to those coordinating the response.Discussion:Communication is a major factor, often the most criticized, when managing any response. The development of the CPRG website and system as described can alleviate this and provide accurate and consistent event and planning advice to those in the primary health sector.