National guidance on SMART action points
Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Department of Health and Social Care
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Nationally, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England should consider whether nationwide guidance should be issued on the importance of action points from all relevant meetings involving healthcare agencies, discharge plans and management plans after risk assessments being recorded in a SMART-compliant (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) way.
Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
How was this evidence gathered?
Response — verbatim from government
●Department of Health and Social Care
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England are the lead organisations and expect to complete the implementation of this recommendation by 31 March 2027. Progress and next steps:
- DHSC and NHS England support the recording of action points from healthcare meetings in a SMART-compliant manner, with clear responsibility attribution, agree to deliver the following:
- Map the range of current training and guidance, including from professional bodies, on relevant record keeping issues.
- Consider gaps in content based on issues raised in the Inquiry.
- Consider how best to encourage and support the implementation of action points from healthcare meetings.
Department of Health and Social Care · 2 Jul 2026 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 2 Jul 2026 · Department of Health and Social Care Government response published 2 July 2026 (CP 1623). The government accepted this recommendation; the lead department reports implementation is in progress. Source →
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.