Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the use of imaging equipment in the NHS that enable circular methods of reuse, remanufacture, and recycling; and when will this come within scope of the design for life programme.

The Design for Life Roadmap, the Government’s plan to build a circular economy for medical technology, includes all medical technology products within its scope. Therefore, enabling circular imaging equipment sits within its aims.

The programme is already making progress in this area. For example, the Department recently commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare to conduct a series of pilots across National Health Service trusts to investigate the real-world processes, barriers, and enablers involved in transitioning from single use to reusable products. These pilots spanned several high-priority products, including bronchoscopes. The report of the findings from these pilots will be publicly available later in the year, and the programme will work closely with NHS trusts and the NHS Supply Chain to explore the rapid implementation of the recommendations.