Media Release
9 May 2007
Government tests pandemic action plan
A nationwide test of the Government’s plans to respond to an influenza pandemic is being held this month.
Exercise Cruickshank will be one of the biggest exercises staged by the New Zealand government and plans to test every phase of the response to an influenza pandemic as set out in the New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Action Plan (NZIPAP).
Led by the Ministry of Health, the four day simulation of an influenza pandemic will involve more than 30 government agencies and all 21 district health boards and their public health services.
Beginning on May 10, the government and health agencies will spend a day of the exercise attempting to ‘keep it out’ of New Zealand after being notified overnight that a significant trading and tourism partner has had influenza cases in its cities for a short time.
The scenario then takes a six to eight week time jump and on May 16 New Zealand health authorities find cases of pandemic influenza in the community and move to the ‘stamp it out’ phase of the plan. On May 17, a further six to eight weeks have elapsed and New Zealand is in the middle of a pandemic and in the ‘manage it’ phase.
Day four will be a discussion exercise of the NZIPAP recovery phase, which will occur on May 23 for the regions May 30 for central government agencies.
National Pandemic Planning Coordinator Steve Brazier said each day will begin with the screening of a news format style DVD aimed to focus participants’ attention on the scenario.
“We want to exercise the plans to the fullest extent possible as our ability to work across government agencies and the health sector is essential if we are to cope at all with an influenza pandemic.
“Day one will entail a mixture of table top exercises and actual deployment at most of our international air and sea ports. Days two and three will involve table top exercises where the plans will be practiced as realistically as possible without disrupting the health system or the normal business of government agencies,” Mr Brazier said.
Exercise Cruickshank will test New Zealand’s border control measures, quarantine and hospital plans, disease containment, deployment of antiviral drugs and the establishment of Community Based Assessment Centres (CBACs) which would assess and treat people with pandemic influenza. It will also identify and document roles and functions that will need to be addressed when recovering from an influenza pandemic.
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For Further information phone
Annie Coughlan
04 816 4376 / 0274 343 222
Media Events
Launch: 10 May. Interested media will be sent a news-style DVD that begins the Exercise. This will be accompanied by a press release from the Director of Public Health. There is a clip for each of the four days of the exercise.
Media wishing to film the National Health Coordinating Centre can ring Fiona Cassidy on 021 2492302. Filming will only be possible for a short time during the day. The Director of Public Health, Dr Mark Jacobs will be available to answer media queries at the time.
Christchurch International Airport.
A group of 30 soldiers will role play as passengers and be processed through the border, arriving from a country possibly affected by Pandemic Influenza. Media can obtain footage of the passengers being processed passing through the border and then being loaded onto a bus to be transported to a quarantine facility. The approximate time this will be occurring is 10.30 -12.00. Please contact Zelda MacKenzie at Customs on 04 462 0317 by midday today (Tuesday 8th May) if you wish to get footage. As this is a Controlled area, only media who have obtained prior permission will be able to gain access on the day. If media wish to talk to Customs about the border response, contact Zelda MacKenzie. If you wish to talk to the Medical Officer of Health for the exercise for the Canterbury area, Dr Ramon Pink, please phone Michele Hider, Christchurch District Heath Board Communications Manager on 0275314796. Dr Pink is also an exercise participant so you would need to schedule this with Michele.
Exercise Cruickshank Questions and Answers
Why is the government staging this exercise?
This is the second pandemic influenza exercise to be staged in New Zealand and the first involving an all of government and health sector response.
The first, Exercise Makgill held in November 2006, involved the health sector only and aimed to assess some of the most difficult aspects of pandemic planning. The exercise focused on cluster control, the ‘stamp it out’ phase of the New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Action Plan (NZIPAP). Lessons learned from this initial exercise enabled existing plans to be modified and reassessed in advance of Exercise Cruickshank occurring.
Exercise Cruickshank is an all of government drill to practice and strengthen the NZIPAP plans and test the intersectoral response at all four stages of an influenza pandemic.
It is the largest exercise of its type attempted in New Zealand and encompasses national and local agencies. It is the first time a pandemic response will be exercised to this extent.
It will enable agencies to practice and test a new set of accountabilities, responsibilities, ways of working, communicating and sharing decision-making at, and between, national and regional levels.
The objectives have been chosen and prioritised to facilitate learning.
The possibility of a pandemic occurring is real, therefore it is prudent to hold this Exercise to test New Zealand’s response capability.
When will the Exercise Occur?
Exercise Cruickshank will take place over four days in May 2007
May 10: Keep it Out. The national response will be coordinated from the National Health Coordinating Centre (NHCC) in Wellington with government, heath sector and some private sector agencies participating. As well as the tabletop exercises, Auckland and Christchurch Airports will host operational deployment activities. In addition, the border agencies will hold a discussion exercise.
May 16: Stamp it Out. This will be a tabletop exercise, coordinated from Wellington’s National Health Coordinating Centre, focusing on cluster control in the community.
May 17: Manage it. The National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC), which coordinates a multiple government agency response, situated under the Beehive, will be in operation as well as the National Health Coordinating Centre (NHCC). This will be a desktop exercise.
May 23/30: Recover from it. This will be a discussion exercise held by the regions on May 23 and nationally on May 30.
What will be tested during Exercise Cruickshank?
The four day operational phase of the exercise will create scenarios to test each one of the four stages of New Zealand’s Influenza Pandemic Action Plan.
Exercise Cruickshank will test border control, quarantine, hospital plans, disease containment strategies, public health measures, surveillance and response policies and systems, decision making structures, coordination mechanisms, public communications strategies and arrangements and the Ministry of Health’s ability to coordinate an all of government and health sector response.
Who will participate in Exercise Cruickshank?
More than 30 government agencies, all 21 district health boards and their public health services, as well as some private sector agencies, will participate in the exercise.Over 1500 people are expected to take part over the four day exercise.
What does the government hope to achieve from Exercise Cruickshank?
The New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Action Plan (NZIPAP), as well as other plans such as the National Health Emergency Plan – Infectious Diseases (NHEP-ID), are continually being updated as new information is received. Exercise Cruickshank will help produce an operational revision of the NZIPAP and HNEP-ID, as well as other government plans for emerging or infectious diseases and for national emergencies.
What is the expected cost of Exercise Cruickshank?
A budget of around $750,000 has been allocated to conduct Exercise Cruickshank.
What is not being tested and why isn’t the entire pandemic response capability being tested?
It would be impossible to test every aspect of the national and local pandemic response in a four day period. For that reason Exercise Cruickshank has been designed to test specific response elements in the New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Action Plan.
What are the scenarios for the four days?
There have been influenza cases occurring in several of its cities for a ‘short time.’ These follow notification of an outbreak of human to human transmission of a new form of influenza adapted from H5N1 in Africa.
New Zealand takes prompt action and the government directs that the pandemic status be escalated to Code Yellow, and that border management functions be escalated at the international points of entry targeting people from areas of concern.
All of New Zealand’s air and seas ports are setting up their emergency operation centres to some extent. Several air and sea ports will also be exercising response plans.
The scenario advances with a nominal six to eight week interval to day two. A pandemic is spreading overseas and New Zealand has four clusters of the disease appear in recent arrivals from an unaffected country. The district health boards and their public health services begin cluster control and every effort is made to control the spread of the disease.
On day three, a further six to eight weeks have elapsed and the disease has spread. The district health boards establish Community Based Assessment Centres (CBACs) to assess the sick. National reserves of antiviral drugs are mobilised and distributed through the CBACs. Data about the nature of the disease and treatment is being analysed.
On day four, a nationwide pandemic is occurring with 40% of the population unable to work because of illness or childcare reasons, food supplies becoming limited, antiviral stocks running low and funeral services unable to keep up with the demand.
The exercise days will all begin with a 15 minute DVD news-style presentation to start play and the scenario will develop from there.
Why is it called Exercise Cruickshank?
The Exercise is named after Dr Margaret Cruickshank, the first woman to register as a doctor and subsequently engage in general medical practice.
When the influenza pandemic of 1918 struck Waimate, Dr Cruickshank was already tried and overworked but she responded magnificently to the needs of the district. When her driver fell ill she travelled by bicycle or horse and gig to attend to her patients. She not only gave medical care to her patients but attended to any of their urgent domestic tasks such as feeding babies and milking cows.
Dr Cruickshank caught influenza herself and, with her strength already depleted by her labour for her patients, died of pneumonia at Waimate on 28 November 1918. She was one of 14 New Zealand doctors who lost their lives during the epidemic, and one of the 17 people who died in Waimate.
The people of Waimate lined the streets as her cortege passed. In gratitude for her work, a marble statue was erected in the town in 1923. On it is carved the words; ‘The Beloved Physician / Faithful unto Death.’ In 1948 the maternity ward in Waimate Hospital was named in her honour.
Last Thursday (3 May) was the anniversary of Dr Cruickshank’s registration as a doctor.
How will the exercise affect travellers on Day 1, (Keep it Out)?
There are exercise deployments at most the sea or air ports. These will be carried out so there is no disruption for incoming or outgoing passengers or freight.
It is also important to be clear this is an exercise so there is no misunderstanding by international travellers that there is a new infectious disease developing in any other country.
How will it affect hospitals? Will health services be disrupted?
No. The exercise will not have any impact on normal health services.
Are overseas countries going to be involved in the exercise?
There will be 15 officials from five countries observing the exercise.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is a close working partner in the exercise preparations to ensure that countries who wish to observe are able to do so. MFAT is also informing our diplomatic posts of the Exercise so they are aware of the event.
As Exercise Cruickshank will be a very large exercise, and New Zealand has been considered a leader in pandemic planning, significant international interest is expected.
Accordingly, sharing the lessons learned from the exercise with other countries is an important aspect of international preparations. International health organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), will be briefed on preparations and invited to observe the exercise.
For questions and answers about Pandemic Influenza please visit the Ministry of health’s website www.moh.govt.nz/pandemicinfluenza
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