Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how post-pandemic healthcare surge capacity plans are audited for ongoing readiness.

The NHS core standards for emergency preparedness, resilience and response were published on 24 May 2023 and provide the common framework against which organisations assess their preparedness. The standards are available online at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/emergency-preparedness-resilience-and-response-core-standards/