Recommendation 26

The Department also procured 20,900 individual ventilators at a cost of £569 million, held in stock as “an ICU reserve”. In February 2024 the Department decided to close the reserve and dispose of these ventilators. We asked the Department why these ventilators were being scrapped rather than being donated or sold. The Department set out that it had not yet determined how it will dispose of the stockpile, but a hierarchy will be used to ensure sale or donation before disassembly for recycling. The Department told us that it did not yet know how much of the £569 million spent it will recover. We asked the Department whether there was a pause on the NHS purchasing ventilators given the 20,000 currently held in warehouses and available for use by NHS. The Department and NHS England told us they were “not sighted on the specifics”, although they agreed it would be surprising if new ventilators were being purchased whilst this stockpile was available.46 The Department has since confirmed that no restrictions were placed on NHS organisations regarding the purchase of medical equipment, including ventilators similar to those held by the Department.47