Ambulance service bosses say they should not "underestimate" the resource which will be needed to put in place improvements drawn from the findings of an inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing.

East Midlands Ambulance Service's (EMAS) response to the inquiry was addressed during a board meeting at its Nottinghamshire headquarters on February 7.

The Manchester Arena bombing, on May 22 2017, was the deadliest terrorist attack in the UK since the 2005 July 7 attacks in London.

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated a device he'd made at home in the arena's foyer as people left an Ariana Grande concert.

There were more than 900 victims, and 22 people died.

An inquiry opened in September 2020 and came to a conclusion in February of last year, having heard evidence from just under 300 witnesses.

Volume two of the inquiry looked into the responses from emergency services, and the third and final report is due in March this year.

Inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said could not rule out the survival of some victims if the emergency response had been better.

Sir John said significant aspects of the response "went wrong" between the ambulance services, fire services and police forces.

In total 149 recommendations have been made.

One of these was for reviews to be conducted by ambulance service trusts across the country of their capacity to respond to a mass casualty incident.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) has set up a strategic group and a business case is being drawn up to get financial support for the required new technology, facilities and training.

Karen Tomlinson, the chairwoman of EMAS, said she had concerns over delivering improvements off the back of the inquiry findings, given the pressures the service is currently under.

While hospital handover delays decreased between December last year and January this year, staff turnover rates are rising.

"Given everything else that is going on and to land this on top of everything else is really quite worrying," she said.

"It is that public confidence. I think there are some big undertakings here, I don't think we should underestimate the resource.

"It is almost a project in its own right."

Ben Holdaway, Operations Director, added: "We need to give this the focus it deserves.

"That's how we are looking at it. We are trying to get some of the quick wins done, which we have already done, so there are a few bits we have already done, but we need to set ourselves up."

Meetings between ambulance service trusts will be taking place across the country, and board members further called for better working between fire, police and ambulance services on the findings of the inquiry.