Recommendation F108: Support for other agencies
From Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, published 6 February 2013.
Recommendation
Public Health England should review the support and training that health protection staff can offer to local authorities and other agencies in relation to local oversight of healthcare providers' infection control arrangements.
In brief (written by this site)
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England stated in commentary published in February 2026 that the UK Health Security Agency works across local and national systems to support partners in addressing health threats (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). In May 2024, the Thirlwall Inquiry legal team noted that the government had accepted the recommendation and that options to improve training had been under consideration (The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team, May 2024).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
Accepted.
Public Health England recognises the importance of supporting local infection control and prevention arrangements, and has undertaken a review. Although the offer of support and training would be a significant undertaking, Public Health England is considering options as to how it will be able to provide this in the future and is discussing these with the Department of Health.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: This is volume two of "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777-II), the government's response to the Inquiry's 290 recommendations, published by the Department of Health on GOV.UK on 19 November 2013 and dated to that day here. The PDF the row links to is the accessible edition, whose title page reads "January 2014". The Department of Health has been the Department of Health and Social Care since January 2018. The volume says it includes accounts from each of the national organisations the recommendations name, but it does not mark which passage each organisation wrote, so every row is filed under the Department that published it.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
Government responded via "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (2014), a single document covering all 290 recommendations with a blanket acceptance. Individual recommendation responses were not broken out.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say in progress (27 February 2026)
UK Health Security Agency works ‘across the national and local health and social care system – in close alliance with the devolved governments, the NHS, local authorities, academia and industry – to collectively identify what capabilities are required across the whole system and support our partners to improve their ability to address health threats alongside our own’.
Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Implemented – ongoing”. Table row: section 18.2 No. 108, PDF page 476.
Department of Health and Social Care says in progress (11 February 2015)
Public Health England is continuing to work with partners working across the Health Protection Directorate, the Nursing Directorate and the Operations Directorate to explore options to improve training.
Public Health England is currently triangulating work across three of its Directorates (Health Protection, Operations and Nursing) to develop a training strategy to facilitate support and training for Local Authorities and other agencies (stakeholders) in relation to both the local oversight and risk assessment of healthcare providers’ infection control arrangements.
A position statement and proposals for the High Level Steering Group for the UK 5 year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy outlining Infection Prevention and Control in England – Proposals to revisit structures and functions, principles and practice was submitted on 18 July 2014 with an emphasis on education, training and leadership.
A report of the Public Health England-led multi-stakeholder Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy Systems Mapping Workshop held on the 08 July 2014 outlined the development of a national training and education framework for professionals for Infection Prevention and Control and antibiotic resistance, focusing on establishing strong national and local leadership and governance for Infection Prevention and Control across the health and care sector.
The Public Health England Operational Directorate (via the Public Health England Centre Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections leads group) is developing a ‘train the trainers’ programme outlining the roles and responsibilities of Public Health England Centres there Local Authorities and other Stakeholders. This will be by the end of the financial year and will be aligned with the revision of the Public Health England internal Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Operational Guidance for Public Health England Centres, the cross-organisational ‘Overarching Principles for Sharing Concerns’ and the revision of The Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance (2010) . The training programme will cover local oversight of infection prevention and control for local authorities and other agencies using risk assessment, epidemiological principles, infection surveillance data and softer intelligence. The training programme will utilise existing local and national data combined with local knowledge and will be developed and disseminated through Health Protection Teams using the available resources and by working with their health communities (Quality surveillance Groups, Health and Well-being Groups and Infection Prevention and Control committees). This will contribute to a consistent approach across all Public Health England Centres and their localities.
Site note: This is the supporting annex published on 11 February 2015 with "Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries" (Cm 9009), attached to the GOV.UK page as "Culture change in the NHS supporting annex". The annex has no title page; that title is GOV.UK's and the PDF's own. Its table has four columns (No., Recommendation, Hard Truths Government response, Progress update), and the row carries the Progress update cell. No column says which organisation wrote an update, so the row is filed under the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), which published it.
Site note: The Inquiry addressed this recommendation to Public Health England, not to the Department of Health. The annex gives this update in the Department's publication and does not say who wrote it, so the row is the Department's report of the progress made on it.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Thirlwall Inquiry legal team (15 May 2024)
This recommendation was accepted by the Government.
In the January 2014 Hard Truths report, the Government said that Public Health England was considering options as to how it would provide this support and training.
In the February 2015 Culture Change report, the Government said that Public Health England was continuing to work with partners across the Health Protection Directorate, the Nursing Directorate and the Operations Directorate to explore options to improve training.
Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 16.2 No. 108, PDF page 442.
Source
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department of Health and Social Care
Response, delivery statement - DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding