Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 24 January (HL1768), how much money has been raised to date from the auction of equipment listed in that answer.
The COVID Strategic ICU Reserve was set up in April 2020, in response to shortages in key respiratory equipment and in anticipation of increased demand during the pandemic. Over the last two years, the National Health Service has not needed to access the reserve to manage increases in the numbers of respiratory patients. With lack of demand from the NHS, and increasing costs associated with storing and maintaining ageing equipment, the decision was taken to close the reserve by March 2024.
Information on the money raised from the auction of equipment is not currently available. The following table shows the planned disposal routes for equipment within the COVID Strategic Intensive Care Unit Reserve from 1 December 2023 to 31 March 2024:
| Holdings at December 2023 | Offered or offering for sale | Have been destroyed | Scheduled for destruction | Donated to medical charities for use overseas |
Enteral feed pumps | 1140 | 1025 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Humidifiers | 4714 | 1456 | 0 | 3258 | 0 |
Mechanical ventilator - Anaesthetic | 53 | 17 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
Mechanical ventilator - Emergency | 5093 | 1140 | 3159 | 792 | 0 |
Mechanical ventilator - ICU | 3083 | 3075 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Mechanical ventilator - Transport | 949 | 148 | 0 | 789 | 0 |
Non-invasive Ventilator (NIV) bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPaP) | 3339 | 3085 | 0 | 252 | 0 |
NIV continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) | 6682 | 0 | 702 | 5980 | 0 |
NIV high flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) | 187 | 155 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Oxygen concentrators | 2874 | 2861 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
Oxygen regulators | 1564 | 1461 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Patient monitors | 2439 | 2353 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Suction pumps | 307 | 289 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Syringe drivers | 21319 | 8000 | 9318 | 3976 | 0 |
Volumetric pumps | 1588 | 1563 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Notes: