Learn What Ukraine's Adaptation Can Teach UK Emergency Services About Organisational Resilience at the 2026 Emergency Services Show

The World Extreme Medicine Fund (WEMF) is delighted to be speaking at the 2026 Emergency Services Show in Birmingham (16-17 September). The team looks forward to supporting the Show’s new Resilience360 theme and its wider pledge to raise the standard of urgent care and response across emergency services.

Co-founded by global medical and humanitarian leaders Professor Mark Hannaford and Luca Alfatti, the charity has supported frontline and humanitarian medical initiatives throughout the Ukraine conflict, combining operational medicine expertise with practical logistics and invaluable field deployment experience. From trauma care and frontline training to logistics and public health resources, the charity’s highly skilled team responds at pace where healthcare systems are overwhelmed or under threat.

During WEMF’s session (12.30pm on Thursday 17 September), Professor Mark Hannaford and Advanced Paramedic practitioner Luca Alfatti will partner with Richard Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of World Extreme Medicine to share lessons learnt during four years of delivering humanitarian aid, frontline medical capability and trauma training across Ukraine. WEMF, alongside collaboration with NATO and distinguished international partners including the Command of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education has provided a unique perspective on how organisations perform and adapt under sustained operational pressure.

Ukraine has become one of the world's most important learning environments for emergency medicine, leadership and organisational resilience. As the nature of conflict, crisis and major incidents continues to evolve, so too must the way emergency services prepare, adapt and respond.

Speaking at the 20th Emergency Services Show is another key event in WEMF’s milestone year. 2026 also marks four years since the charity’s inception which has seen the team deliver nearly £5m in trauma aid and train over 1,700 frontline medical personnel.

Since February 2022, WEMF medics have been on the ground in Ukraine. The charity has also provided further medical support in other countries affected by conflict (including Myanmar and Syria). The WEMF has also supported educational initiatives in Namibia, responding to what is needed in the moment, from delivering essential trauma casualty care and capacity building, to adapting alongside frontline medics, as their expertise has swiftly evolved through real-world experience. 

This work, recognised with three humanitarian medals for members of the WEMF team, demonstrates the real-world impact of building sustainable, locally informed capability rather than dependency.

“We are delighted to have been invited to contribute to the 2026 Emergency Services Show. As a result of our team’s critical life saving work in Ukraine over the past four years, we’ve had a unique opportunity to observe how people and organisations adapt, learn and maintain capability under sustained pressure.

"Using insights gained from the team’s critical casualty care, our session will explain how these invaluable lessons can best be applied to practical organisational readiness in the UK. Resilience isn’t something organisations can simply switch on when a major incident happens; it is built beforehand through exemplary leadership, training, interoperability and through people’s ability to learn and adapt.

"Our session will be a unique opportunity to highlight how our frontline experience can best be applied to UK emergency preparedness.”