Concerns over biggest pandemic exercise ever undertaken in the UK

Martin Shipton

The biggest pandemic exercise ever run in the UK will start this week – but a group representing the relatives of Welsh Covid-19 victims is not convinced it will be comprehensive and fears past mistakes may be repeated.

The Welsh Government says it is “fully engaged” with the planning for a cross-system, UK Tier 1 national level pandemic exercise known as Exercise Pegasus that will take place between September 17 and November 5.

We asked the Welsh Government what it could tell us about Exercise Solaris, which took place earlier this year, and Exercise Pegasus.

What was the Welsh Government’s role in planning and delivering these exercises?

What format did they / will they take and who is involved?

Have the devolved nations been involved in co-designing them?

Are they just NHS focussed or is social care included too?

Is there a report based on Exercise Solaris and is it available? If so, could we see it?

Participation

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government responded: “Exercise Pegasus will be the biggest pandemic exercise that the UK has ever run and will include participation at national, devolved and local levels from ministers, officials, responder organisations and the third sector.

“We have established a Wales Coordination Group to oversee planning and participation in Wales which has representation from all key organisations involved in the exercise, including the third sector. “Warm up exercises have taken place ahead of the main exercise including Exercise Solaris, run on behalf of the Welsh Government by Public Health Wales on April 30 aimed at the local response tier (local resilience forums) and Exercise Alkarab aimed at UK Government departments and devolved governments, held on May 15.”

But the campaign group Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru issued a statement headed “Exercise Pegasus: Wales Risks Repeating the Same Deadly Mistakes”.

NHS focused

The statement said: “This Wednesday, behind closed doors, Exercise Pegasus begins — three two-day simulations running until November. It is billed as the largest pandemic exercise ever, a direct recommendation of the UK Covid Inquiry.

“But instead of the whole-systems approach demanded by the Inquiry Chair, Pegasus looks almost entirely NHS-focused. That is exactly the mistake that crippled the Covid response: planning only for hospitals while ignoring social care, communities, and wider resilience.

“Our Welsh Government contact confirmed they are merely participants, with the UK Cabinet leading. That passive stance may explain why ministers had no answers when questioned. Success criteria remain unclear. And no one will say what happens if the exercise fails. We cannot afford another whitewash. And the worst possible outcome would be for ministers to again ignore recommendations

“Let’s be clear: in 2020, Mark Drakeford and Vaughan Gething ignored warnings, dismissed recommendations, and presided over a catastrophic failure of leadership. Wales cannot repeat this. Responsibility must sit with Welsh Government Resilience — not Public Health Wales or the Health & Care divisions whose disjointed planning produced chaos last time.

“Despite our central role in Module 1 of the Inquiry, we have been denied observer status for Pegasus. That exclusion speaks volumes.

“Finally, it is astonishing that the following issues are still rated only ‘medium priority’ in the 2025 Wales Resilience Framework: Delivery Plan. The lessons of the pandemic demand far more urgency.”

Two issues are accorded medium priority:

We will review our existing Welsh Government crisis management facilities (Emergency Coordination Centre Wales) to ensure they fully meet the requirements of a modern multi-agency incident response.

Working collectively, review existing crisis management structures to ensure they continue to work effectively.

A further issue is accorded short / medium priority:

Enhancing existing processes to ensure a trusted source / brand for the sharing of information during major incidents.