Medical Devices and Equipment

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

I am grateful for the noble Lord’s question. As somebody who used to deal in such equipment, I totally agree with him that you should always have the latest, most up-to-date equipment. Twenty years sounds like an awfully long time in technological development terms, so I take on board exactly what the noble Lord says.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con)]

My Lords, further to the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Alton, the Question talks about

“the impact of costs pressures on the supply of medical devices and equipment.”

Therefore, the fact that we are paying for the storage of PPE that cannot be used is relevant; a Question on this was answered some time ago. Would my noble friend the Minister be good enough to reply in writing and set out the current position of these astronomical costs?

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

I am most grateful to my noble friend for that question. I hear it loud and clear and will feed it back to the Minister, my noble friend Lord Markham.