Scenes of mayhem could greet patients going to St Albans City Hospital tomorrow - but, despite appearances, they should be able to get in and out of the building as usual.

For emergency services, local authorities and health trusts from across Herts are coming together for a major incident exercise at the hospital which would be a receiving centre in the event of such an emergency.

From 9am to 3.30pm, a gas explosion in one of the hospital’s estates buildings will be simulated with volunteers from West Herts College participating as live casualties.

Kevin Hornett, head of emergency planning and resilience at West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It will be a great opportunity for organisations from across Hertfordshire to come together and test our preparations for a major incident. Representatives from each organisation will observe the roles carried out by their colleagues during the day to test their response and learn from the exercise.

“As a receiving centre, our clinicians would play a major role in managing critically injured casualties and liaising with our partners in this type of situation, so this activity will enable us to see what we already do well as a group and where we could improve.”

The trust has assured patients that they will not face any disruption to their visits during the course of the exercise and access to the site will function as normal.

A spokesman said the trust would be be tweeting details of the exercise and photos all day.

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