Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many trusts have contributed the prices they have paid to the calculation of reference prices for implantable defibrillators and cardiac resynchronisation defibrillators; and how many individual device prices were used in that calculation.

In total, 52 providers are commissioned to implant defibrillators and cardiac resynchronisation defibrillators. Secondary User Service data and reference cost submissions from all these trusts were used in calculating the reference price. Available information from 25 provider tenders and procurement frameworks were also used.

NHS England is also undertaking a project in the South West to better understand the available data on device prices. This has informed the development of an improved minimum dataset which has been introduced in 2015/16. NHS England will continue to work with providers, lead clinicians and the Association of British Healthcare Industries to update their reference price data on an ongoing basis.