Ventilators: EU Action

(asked on 20th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the UK did not join the EU scheme for purchasing ventilators.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 4th May 2020

The United Kingdom has been a signatory to the EU Joint Procurement Agreement since 2014. Owing to an initial communication problem, the UK did not receive an invitation in time to take part in the first four European Joint Procurements in response to COVID-19, including the ventilators scheme. However, participating in those four initial joint procurement schemes would not have allowed us to do anything that we have not been able to do ourselves.

We currently have over 10,800 mechanical ventilators available to National Health Service patients, with thousands more ventilators on order from manufacturers in the UK and abroad. We are working around the clock to deliver a strategy that provides the best outcome for the whole UK.

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