SP8 Response Accepted

Ambulance staff training exercise funding

Recommendation

NHS England should review funding, and consider providing additional resources, to enable all emergency response ambulance staff to participate in appropriate training exercises.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care stated in the response that they are the lead organisations working with the Emergency Resilience Unit, that work will be carried out to define the required training and exercising standards for emergency response ambulance staff, that they are assessing funding for ambulance staff training alongside operational implications, and that they will provide a further detailed update to the Inquiry in due course (Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry, CP 1623, Home Office, July 2026).
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by claude-opus-4-8 on 02 Jul 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted NHS England
02 Jul 2026

NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) are the lead organisations, working with the Emergency Resilience Unit. Progress and next steps:
- Work will be carried out to define the required training and exercising standards for emergency response ambulance staff, including frequency, scope and staff groups,
- NHS England and DHSC are assessing funding for ambulance staff training, alongside operational implications including the requirement for funded backfill.
- Given this complexity, DHSC and NHS England will provide a further detailed update to the Inquiry in due course.

Read Full Response
Progress Timeline
NHS England states: Official Report
02 Jul 2026

Government response published 2 July 2026 (CP 1623). The government accepted this recommendation; the lead department reports implementation is in progress.

Source
Report The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 13 Apr 2026
Responsible Bodies
NHS England Primary
Recommendation age 0.4 yrs
Last formal update 02 Jul 2026