Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NATO on (a) the implementation of the NATO Medical Action Plan and (b) its potential implications for UK civil-military health coordination.

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England continue to engage with the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Medical Services on the NATO Medical Action Plan, to consider how best to implement the recommendations of the Medical Action Plan.

This work is part of wider efforts to strengthen the resilience of the health system and its preparedness for the demands of a warfighting or mass casualty scenario, and to increase civil-military coordination on health. This includes developing the mechanisms and plans required to mitigate wider impacts on staffing, care capacity, and service provision caused by a potential future warfighting or mass casualty scenario, in line with directives from the Ministry of Defence and NATO.