Get Ready Queensland Week runs from Monday 5 to Sunday 11 October 2026. Led by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, the week encourages Queenslanders to stop, think, and take simple steps to get prepared before severe weather arrives.
For primary care, preparation goes beyond protecting a building. During and after a storm, flood, or cyclone, people in the community still need their regular care, medicines, and support – and often need more of it. Practices that have planned ahead are better placed to keep their doors open, reach vulnerable patients, and recover quickly.
While local and state governments are responsible for managing disaster and emergency responses, Northern Queensland PHN works with our four hospital and health services, local councils, and disaster management groups to help local primary care providers prepare, respond, and recover.
Understanding your risk and planning for business continuity helps practices keep operating
Get Ready Queensland’s Protect your business from severe weather page guides businesses through three steps:
1. Know your risk
Consider whether your premises are exposed to flooding or storm damage, how you rely on suppliers and deliveries, and how your data and records are backed up.
2. Make a plan
Identify what is most important to keep your business running, assign roles to your team, and decide how you will communicate with staff, patients, and suppliers if power is lost or your premises cannot be accessed. A free business continuity plan template is available from Business Queensland.
3. Pack an emergency kit
Keep essential supplies and up-to-date copies of key business documents in a waterproof bag, on a USB drive, or in cloud storage. General practices are encouraged to keep emergency medical kits stocked and ready with essential medical supplies stocked to last days to weeks in the event of disaster.
The Queensland Government’s Small Business Disaster Hub has tailored information and resources on preparing for, responding to, and recovering from different disasters and events.
For health practices, it is also worth planning for issues specific to clinical care, such as:
- how you will maintain vaccine and medicine storage if power is lost
- how you will contact and support patients who may be more vulnerable during severe weather, such as older people, people with chronic conditions, or people who rely on medical equipment
- how patients can access their records, prescriptions, and referrals if your practice needs to close temporarily.
RACGP and Northern Queensland PHN resources help practices build an emergency response plan
The RACGP’s Managing emergencies and disasters in general practice takes practices through each stage of an emergency in four modules:
- Prevention and preparedness
- Response
- Recovery
- Psychological support for patients and staff.
It covers practical topics such as assigning responsibility, assessing risk and preparing an emergency kit, managing utilities, and vaccinations during an event, and re-establishing services afterwards. The RACGP describes emergency planning as ‘fluid and ongoing’, so practices should practise and update plans regularly. More guidance is available on the RACGP natural disasters page.
To help practices get started, Northern Queensland PHN has a free Emergency Disaster Management Plan: Respond Checklist (PDF / Word) that practice managers can download and work through with their team. More resources for each stage, from preparing to responding and recovering, are on our disaster management webpages.
Allied health practices can also use the Australian Government’s guidance to develop an emergency management plan, which includes templates for business continuity and emergency action plans.
Local council disaster dashboards keep practices informed when severe weather hits
Each council in the Northern Queensland PHN region runs a disaster dashboard with real-time information on weather warnings, road closures, evacuation centres, and emergency contacts. Bookmark the dashboard for your area now so your team knows where to look during an event:
- Cairns
- Tablelands
- Townsville
- Mackay
- Burdekin
- Cook Shire
- Cassowary Coast
- Douglas
- Hinchinbrook
- Issac
- Mareeba
- Torres and Cape
- Weipa
- Whitsunday
A full list of Queensland local government disaster dashboards can be found here.
The Bureau of Meteorology is the authoritative source for weather warnings, and Get Ready Queensland has information on how to pack an emergency kit that you can share with staff and patients.
Practices help their communities recover when they are ready to respond
General practices and allied health practices are trusted, local points of care. After severe weather, demand often increases as people seek care for injuries, ongoing conditions, and the emotional impact of the event.
Practices that have a plan in place can adjust opening hours, communicate clearly with patients about access and support community recovery.
Read more about planning and preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters on our website.
For help with disaster preparedness, contact Northern Queensland PHN on (07) 4034 0300.
Helpful links
Further information to help your practice prepare for storm season and severe weather:
- Find resources to prepare, respond, and recover on our emergency management webpages.
- See how to protect your business from severe weather at Get Ready Queensland.
- Visit the Small Business Disaster Hub for tailored information on preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters.
- Work through each stage of an emergency with the RACGP’s guide to managing emergencies and disasters in general practice, linked from the RACGP natural disasters page.
- Bookmark your council’s disaster dashboard.
- Find out what’s on during Get Ready Queensland Week.
- Explore the Queensland Health Extreme Heat and Heatwaves Communication Toolkit 2026.
This article was adapted with permission from content originally developed by Brisbane South PHN. We thank them for sharing this valuable resource.