Developing an Interoperable Port Health Contingency Plan

Abstract

Contingency planning is a vital component of robust national emergency preparedness. In Ireland, the Health Service Executive Port Health Network engaged with Dublin Port from July 2021 to develop Ireland’s first interoperable port health contingency plan, with a view to rolling it out to other designated ports. The EU Healthy Gateways tool for public health emergency contingency plan development (2021) was utilized to support this project, ensuring public health emergency contingency planning across varied public health threats. The principles of this multi-agency approach to port contingency planning, as described, are applicable to other designated ports within Ireland and other jurisdictions.

Keywords

• port
• port health
• contingency planning
• infectious disease
• points of entry