Polly Lee was working with student nurses in a children’s accident and emergency area as major incident plans swung into action in the wake of the London bombings. She reports on some of the issues the day presented

Events on the morning of 7 July 2005 affected many children’s nurses in London. My experiences working with students on placement on that day prompted me to look back on my article on disaster preparedness in Paediatric Nursing in 2002 (Lee 2002). This brief update focuses on the issues of staff and students contacting their families, nurses working in an area outside that of their registration, and support for staff and students.