Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) available ventilators and (b) staff trained in the use of those ventilators in the NHS in the latest period for which figures are available.

Ventilator machines are usually linked to patients in Intensive Care Units/Critical Care/High Dependency Units, although some patients may have them at home or use Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machines to assist with their breathing.

Information on Critical Care Bed Capacity is published by NHS England and can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/critical-care-capacity/

Availability of an NHS Critical Care Bed indicates the associated number of National Health Service staff with the appropriate skills and training are available to deliver the required treatment.