Plan for the crisis!

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Abstract Background The COVID-19-crisis has posed major challenges for organisations providing care in terms of fulfilling their contracts as well as maintaining their quality standards. This project aimed to analyse the implementation of gender and diversity sensitive crisis preparedness in health and social care organisations in Austria. The innovation of this project lies in the organisational crisis preparation including the interfaces of all organisations and actors involved in the care of a vulnerable person. Methods A comprehensive survey and analysis of existing structures and processes was carried out. A participatory approach was used to develop modular guidelines tailored to different crisis scenarios. This was followed by a detailed process analysis, integration of good practices and the creation of assessment tools for practical evaluation. Staff training and technology needs were identified, followed by an assessment of the applicability of the findings to other social sector organisations. Results This project created guidelines with modular structures that enable preparation for crises and their consequences. Thereby strategies for risk mitigation and good practice examples, e.g. from the COVID-19 pandemic, were developed. A self-assessment of the status of crisis preparation as well as the continuous monitoring with special consideration of the intersectional diversity of the target groups and their vulnerability was developed and made available on the web. Conclusions The project results in guidelines as well as a self-assessment and monitoring tool directly benefiting the participating organisations. Through its transferability to other organisations the project promotes overall crisis resilience and sustainably strengthens the care for vulnerable groups in times of crisis. In addition, solidarity-based help in crisis situations is promoted. The project promotes not only organisational, but also individual as well as macro-social and economic benefits. Key messages • The project developed guidelines for gender and diversity sensitive crisis preparedness for health and social care organisations, including risk mitigation strategies and self-assessment/monitoring. • Crisis preparation must be systematically implemented in health and social care organisations involved in care of vulnerable persons.