about

Originally developed in 1999 by Professor Gary Smith and colleagues at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, ALERT® is a multi-professional course to train staff in recognising patient deterioration and act appropriately in treating the acutely unwell.

ALERT® HQ is based at Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust and has developed a suite of courses which you can find below.

For the latest information about our courses see our dedicated news page.

ALERT® is a multi professional course created from Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust to teach clinical staff a structured and prioritised approach to the assessment and management of the acutely ill patient.

First started in the year 2000, ALERT® is a national and internationally recognised course and has taught to date over 200,000 people in clinical practice across all areas and specialities of healthcare. It is updated every four years to reflect best evidence-based practice and continues to be a committed course to enhancing confidence and ability for clinical staff across all sectors.

Please see below the list of upcoming course dates for ALERT® Training:

ALERT® Course

Tuesday 3^rd March 2026
Wednesday 4^th March 2026
Wednesday 11^th March 2026
Tuesday 17^th March 2026
Wednesday 25^th March 2026
Wednesday 8^th April 2026
Wednesday 22^nd April 2026
Wednesday 29^th April 2026
Tuesday 12^th May 2026
Tuesday 2^nd June 2026
Tuesday 9^th June 2026
Tuesday 16^th June 2026
Wednesday 24^th June 2026
Tuesday 7^th July 2026
Wednesday 8^th July 2026
Tuesday 14^th July 2026

ALERT® Train the Trainer Dates

Wednesday 21st October 2026

Licensing and Course Delivery

The international administration of the course is managed by ALERT® HQ.

Copyright on the course is held by Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and institutions wishing to run courses need to sign an Licence Agreement in order to access the materials.

Licence Agreements are issued by ALERT® HQ to a local hub centre that has been licensed by us to manage the course in a particular region or country.

How to become a registered ALERT® training centre

Step 1

Submit an enquiry form indicating under which licence criteria you would like to start:

Run course for your own staff in your own institution
Run courses internally and for others outside your institution but within an agreed region or country
Run train the trainer courses for your region or country.

Step 2

On receipt of the initial enquiry form one of the ALERT® Clinical Educators will contact you to arrange a telephone meeting to discuss all your specific requirements .

Step 3

Sign an Licence Agreement. Register your faculty members in the ALERT® Administration system (Access via a login provided with your licence).

Step 4

Set up courses using the ALERT® Administration System.

Step 5

Place order for manuals and request certification for completed courses using the ALERT® Administration System.

Hub Licences for managing ALERT® outside the UK and Ireland

Hub Licences are available for organisations wishing to administer ALERT® training in an agreed region or country outside the United Kingdom and Ireland. Hubs are responsible for producing materials and selling them locally, issuing of LAs within their region and for collecting payments for manuals.

Hubs pay an annual licence fee to ALERT® and a royalty for each person trained in their region. The ALERT® HQ is the hub for the UK and Ireland.

For all other countries, details of your hub will be provided in response to your LA application. If you are already a LA holder and wish to become a hub, then please contact us.

A summary of our team can be found below.

Pippa Davies - ALERT® Clinical Lead

ALERT, Obstetric ALERT, ALERT Train the Trainer courses: pho-tr.alertcourse@nhs.net
BEACH AWARE courses: pho-tr.beachcourse@nhs.net
PEACH course pho-tr.peachcourse@nhs.net

Beverley Stockwell - ALERT® Clinical Lead