Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the preparedness of intensive care services for a future pandemic.

The Department continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory contact, both influenza and non-influenza, and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department working with health and care partners is strengthening pandemic preparedness by considering the flexible and scalable response capabilities that can be adapted to any threat that the health and social care system needs.

This includes intensive care capacity that will continue to be an integral part of National Health Service resilience and pandemic planning. The urgent and emergency care recovery plan this year sought to strengthen capacity within the acute bed base, with 5,000 additional permanent staffed core general and acute beds delivered, compared to planned 2022/23 levels. Our preparedness also includes considering the medicines and other supporting products for intensive care services in a pandemic.