Only half the recommended number of medical staff were on duty at the O2 Brixton Academy on the night of a crush at the south-west London venue.

Industry guidelines suggest there should have been medical cover of at least 10 people, including a paramedic and a nurse.

After two insiders approached the BBC, the medical cover provider confirmed only five people were working when the crush happened in December.

No paramedics or nurses were present.

Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, and security guard Gaby Hutchinson, 23, died in hospital following the crowd surge on 15 December 2022, at the concert by Afrobeats artist Asake.

The medical provider, Collingwood Services Ltd, said it was "fully confident" its team had "responded speedily, efficiently and with best practice".

We approached the venue operator, Academy Music Group (AMG), for comment. It said it was unable to respond to specific questions, citing the police investigation into what happened.

Two whistleblowers who regularly work for Collingwood Services Ltd at Brixton told BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme that medical cover at the south London gig had been "inadequate".

Neither of them was there when the crush happened, but one said he had spoken to colleagues who were.

The insiders told us that of the five people working for Collingwood at the venue, none had a paramedic qualification.

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

To become a paramedic, you need to pass an approved Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) course - which often means studying for three years to degree level.

Two of the three others working that night, say the insiders, were so-called "FREC 3s" - with a Level 3 certificate in First Response Emergency Care. They would normally have done a five-day course to learn skills for medical and trauma situations in pre-hospital settings.