Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what modelling NHS England has done to determine (a) the effects of trends in NHS trusts' income on (i) provision of (A) implantable defibrillators, (B) cardiac resynchronisation defibrillators and (C) other high cost devices and (ii) service viability and (b) the effects of provision of high cost devices on the future financial positions of trusts.

The costs incurred by National Health Service trusts for high cost devices such as implantable and cardiac resynchronisation defibrillators are re-charged to NHS England on a pass-through basis, i.e. the re-charge equals the cost invoiced by the supplier of the device. Correspondingly the financial impact of high cost device purchases are cost-neutral to NHS trusts and do not impact on their income and expenditure position.

However, NHS England specialised commissioning is currently supporting NHS trusts with information on European Union compliant procurement frameworks that offer better value for the taxpayer.