WIREDGOV

As European militaries ready themselves for war, creating resilient medical systems remains an afterthought for the UK.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has driven the largest transformation of NATO’s military strategy since the Cold War with a new ‘family of plans’, under the Supreme Allied Commander Europe’s command, sharpening NATO’s Russia-facing spear.

But the Alliance’s medical provision needs to catch up urgently. If war breaks out, Russia will attack allied health systems – just as it is attacking Ukraine’s – as a deliberate strategy to weaken our will and capacity to fight. Multi-dimensional attacks on the NHS would overload Cabinet decision-making, diverting political attention away from the wider threat. Blatant Russian denial, deflection and disinformation has rendered international law ineffective at protecting healthcare. For those services to continue to function effectively in war, increasing resilience must be a priority.

RUSI’s significant concerns about how the NHS might cope with war were echoed both in the NATO Medical Action Plan, endorsed at The Hague Summit in June, and the UK Government Resilience Action Plan (UKGRAP) launched in July. The latter parses the problem into three core objectives: effective assessment; whole of society engagement; and strengthening the public sector. A recent RUSI-led exploration of these objectives – in partnership with International SOS – identified deep challenges to conflict-related health resilience and developed realistic policy interventions to address them.

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