Hospital ‘lockdown’ exercise a success

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital tested its preparedness to ‘lockdown’ the hospital in the event of an emergency today between 10am and 12 noon. The exercise was a great success and the building was made fully secure in 11 minutes.

It is important that the hospital tests its ability to respond to a situation in which a full lockdown with strictly controlled access to the building is necessary—for example, in the event of a major incident or in the case of a missing child.

No one was refused entry to the hospital during the test exercise and all our services operated as usual but all entry and exit doors were locked with hospital staff controlling them.