Only half of recommended medical staff were on duty at O2 Academy Brixton on night of fatal crowd crush

According to BBC, two insiders at Collingwood Services Ltd have told BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme that medical cover on the night of the fatal crowd crush at the O2 Brixton Academy in December last year was "inadequate". Collingwood Services Ltd is the main medical provider for the venue, and according to the whistleblowers, only five people from Collingwood Services Ltd were on duty that night. Industry guidelines recommend at least 10 people, including a paramedic and a nurse, to be on duty for a 5,000-capacity show like Asake's in December.

One of the insiders said, "[They] had two student paramedics, so they're basically unqualified. They have to be supervised by a paramedic, not by anybody of a lower grade. They didn't have appropriate supervision."

The medical cover provider has confirmed only five people were working when the fatal crowd crush happened in December last year. Two of them were described as "first responders", two were third-year student paramedics working as emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and the fifth person was also an EMT. When asked by the BBC to clarify the staff's qualifications, the company said that "all staff present were qualified to carry out the scope of practice they were contracted to perform." Collingwood Services Ltd also said "no member of staff was contracted to provide paramedic level duties at the event."

The company also said that it was "fully confident" that the team had "responded speedily, efficiently and with best practice."