An emergency event in a neighbouring authority highlighted how hard it was to identify vulnerable persons during a confirmed gas leak, Falkirk Council resolved to find a faster, more accurate and secure method for quickly identifying those in need during any type of emergency incident where local residents might be in danger.

Data was cleansed and uploaded to an electronic mapping system which allows us to identify vulnerable persons in a few simple clicks and has been hailed as quantum leap.

"As a result of creating this digital map, Falkirk Council’s Resilience Planning team can now pro-actively plan for incidents in terms of vulnerable individuals as well as test various mock scenarios. At a touch of a button, information can be accessed quickly, effectively and electronically.

Having the data cleansed and then stored in a GIS, the data can now be overlaid with other data sets such as the road network, bridges, schools, known flood risk areas and aerial imagery which allows for instant identification of vulnerable persons as well being able to quantify the number affected and even help rank which order the identified vulnerable persons should receive help.

The Persons at Risk Database has been endorsed by the Forth Valley NHS Medical Director and the Director of Development Services for Falkirk Council. The work is being held up as good practice for other councils and Health Boards and steps have been taken to explore the possibility of offering the same level of success Scotland wide.
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Falkirk Council
Forth Valley NHS
NHS Scotland
Scottish Government

The problems posed by the complex issue of sharing personal data in the planning and response to emergencies or disruptive events have long been recognised. The terrorist attacks and severe events witnessed across the UK and beyond highlighted some of the problems of sharing personal information. To date, no single area in the UK can claim to have completely resolved the issues. Our project has overcome many barriers and obstacles, both actual and perceived, and throughout all of this there had been a commitment to succeed. Without the support and tenacity of individuals within and outwith Falkirk Council, our project would not be as advanced as it is today. Easily one of the biggest wins was selling the business case to our Legal Dept as this underlined what we were attempting to achieve and the reasons behind it and their guidance on Data Protection and GDPR has proven critical to the overall success of the project.