Lockdown of a trust premise, site or building policy and procedure

Lockdown is the process of controlling the movement, access and egress of people in response to an identified threat or risk which could impact on the safety and security of persons and or assets or the capacity of a facility to continue to operate.

A lockdown may be implemented by the trust as part of a security incident or by enacting the major incident plan. This may be in partnership with other NHS or external bodies, for example, by the Police based on received intelligence.

There are a number of circumstances in which managers may need to lock down an area under their control. These include but are not limited to:

• a missing patient
• a possible incident of violence and aggression
• where staff, patients and other persons may be affected by an incident (for example, contamination of a reception area)

The ability to lock down sites, properties or buildings fits in with the statutory responsibilities of NHS trusts as category 1 responders as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and by the NHSE(I) core standards for emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR).

The purpose of this policy and procedure is to provide guidance to managers and staff to enable them to effectively lock down an area which is under their control.

The policy should be read in conjunction with the business continuity plans and the major incident and major incident recovery plan, however it may be used on a standalone policy if required.

To access the policy, please visit lockdown of a trust premise, site or building policy and procedures (staff access only) (opens in new window) on the intranet.

Page last reviewed: September 23, 2024
Next review due: September 23, 2025