Planning Event Medical Cover

Planning event medical cover means working out, before the day, what medical care an event's whole population is likely to need, and putting the people, facilities and hospital links in place to deliver it.

Pitchside medicine is about a single patient; event medicine is about a population. The case mix varies with the event, the crowd, the duration, the weather and the alcohol, and much of it arises in spectators and staff rather than in the athletes. The cardiac arrest you plan for shapes the plan, but most people who come to the medical tent need far less.

Sport and exercise medicine (SEM) clinicians do this work at marathons, cycling events, football grounds and school tournaments. This page covers the framework, the venue, the medical centre and the hospital pathway. Scaling the cover, the team and command, and major incidents each have their own topic in this subcategory; taking a squad abroad is covered on Medical Planning for the Travelling Team.