A medical plan needs more than a workforce headcount. Location, activity, schedule and access to external care all influence the support required. This guide is a starting point for business planning, not a clinical protocol or a substitute for a site-specific assessment.
Map the operation
- Where will personnel live and work, and how far apart are those locations?
- How will workforce numbers change through the project?
- What operating hours, rotations and critical phases are planned?
- Which activities or conditions create particular medical considerations?
Define the onsite role
- What day-to-day clinical support will the workforce need?
- What response capability is appropriate to the identified risks?
- Which assessments, surveillance or preventive programmes need consideration?
- What should be managed onsite, and when will external care be required?
Plan the facilities and resources
- Is a fixed clinic, portable facility, medical post or mobile capability appropriate?
- What staffing and operating hours does the agreed scope require?
- Which equipment, medicines, diagnostics and consumables support that scope?
- What storage, handling, replenishment and waste arrangements are needed?
Connect to external care
- Which facilities can provide care outside the onsite scope?
- What routine referral and urgent transfer arrangements are available?
- What access, transport or permission constraints affect those arrangements?
- What alternatives are available if the preferred route cannot be used?
Agree how teams work together
- Who is responsible for medical decisions, coordination and escalation?
- How does the service fit with HSE, security and the emergency plan?
- What will be reported, and how will clinical confidentiality be protected?
- When will the service be reviewed as the project changes?
BRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE INTO THE CONVERSATION
A useful brief identifies the known requirements, the information still needed and the people who need to agree the plan.
Discuss your project