Recommendation 7

When we challenged the Department on why it did not begin its initial efforts to buy more ventilators until the 3 March, it explained that there was a “huge amount” of work done in February to understand the disease and to look at the capacity across the NHS in multiple areas.9 It added that while modelling throughout indicated that mechanical ventilation may be needed, it was events during February in Lombardy, an Italian region hard hit by COVID-19, that made it clear there was going to be a specific pressure on ventilators. It said that as soon as it was clear that there was going to be a “real need” to purchase additional ventilators it set up a team on 3 March. The Department also told us that while there is now a lot more information on the number of ventilators and other equipment required for the pandemic available, there are no plans to look at other areas where it lacks centralised data.10 Assessment of need