Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether intensive care unit capacity is secure in the event of a future respiratory pandemic, given current UK manufacturing capacity.

The Department continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory (influenza and non-influenza), contact and vector-borne pathogens. The Department’s plans build on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department currently holds a strategic reserve of intensive care unit equipment, originally established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategic reserve holds both invasive and non-invasive ventilators, with supporting equipment which can be accessed by National Health Service trusts across the United Kingdom and provides capacity to provide support for up to 1,000 intensive care unit bays. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department additionally procured a range of medicines to support intensive care, based on critical need and supply resilience. This included, but was not limited to, analgesia, sedation, and antibiotics. Options to maintain access to these products, including stockpiling for a future pandemic and potential volumes required, are currently being considered.

NHS England has published Adult Critical Care surge planning guidance, which sets out escalation thresholds and the actions required by trusts, systems, regional and national teams to support a response to any sudden increase in demand on services. A copy of this guidance is attached.