Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the unavailability of (a) digital thermometers and blood pressure monitors and (b) other low cost equipment for clinical staff on NHS (i) staff time usage and (ii) efficiency.

The Department and NHS England do not currently plan to make an assessment. The Department closely monitors the supply and availability of a broad range of medical devices and equipment continually across the National Health Service in England and the United Kingdom. We continue to work to mitigate any issues and potential impact on patients, clinical staff, and service efficiency.

We have a range of well-established processes and tools in place to help manage disruption to the supply of medical products in the UK as and when they arise. This includes the National Supply Disruption Response, which acts a single point of contact for the health and care system and medical supply industry, in the event of supply disruption which cannot be mitigated via routine contingency measures.