Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the provision of emergency back up generators in rural (a) hospitals and (b) GP surgeries.

No national assessment has been made of the provision of emergency backup generators in hospitals and general practice surgeries. It is the responsibility of each National Health Service provider to have resilience plans and procedures in place.

Guidance is provided to the NHS within the Health Technical Memorandum 06 series, namely Health Technical Memorandum 06-01: Electrical services supply and distribution, Health Technical Memorandum 06-02: Electrical safety guidance for low voltage systems, and Health Technical Memorandum 06-03: Electrical safety guidance for high voltage systems, which are all respectively available at the following three links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/electrical-services-supply-and-distribution-htm-06-01/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/electrical-safety-guidance-for-low-voltage-systems-htm-06-02/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/electrical-safety-guidance-for-high-voltage-systems-in-healthcare-premises-htm-06-03/

This guidance is for healthcare organisation, defined as an organisation that provides or intends to provide healthcare services, and is therefore applicable to primary and secondary care providers.