The practice exercise, held at Walsall Manor Hospital last week, involved hundreds of participants and tested the ability of multiple organisations to respond to a fast-moving incident while maintaining the safe delivery of critical healthcare services.

Working alongside West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service, West Midlands Ambulance Service, Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands and the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB), Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust exercised its emergency plans in the working hospital environment.

The exercise was not based on any intelligence or an increased threat to the hospital or area.

The event provided valuable opportunities to identify lessons that will further strengthen emergency preparedness and resilience across the Black Country.

Liam Ferris, Head of Emergency Preparedness, Resilience & Response (EPRR) at the Trust, said: “Exercises of this scale are essential to ensuring we are prepared for the most challenging incidents, however unlikely they may be.

“By working alongside our emergency service and NHS partners in a realistic environment, we can test our plans, strengthen our partnerships and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

“We are extremely proud of the professionalism, teamwork and commitment demonstrated by everyone involved.”

Detective Superintendent Pervez Mohammed, Head of Protect and Prepare for Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands, said: “We regularly work with partners to test and exercise their emergency capabilities and responses to a terrorist or major incident.

“This helps all organisations taking part to have a deeper understanding and awareness about responding to a terrorist incident and the interoperability between blue light agencies and other partners.

“The exercise was carried out successfully and the learning will be utilised across agencies to collectively improve our region’s response.”