Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Integrated Care Boards to facilitate the return of used (a) wheelchairs and (b) other medical equipment.

In October 2024, the Department published the Design for Life roadmap, a new strategy to transition away from all avoidable single-use medical technology (MedTech) products towards a functioning circular system by 2045. This includes improving systems that enable the return of mobility aids, such as wheelchairs, and many other types of MedTech.

The Design for Life Roadmap is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/679ca015a9ee53687470a2ed/design-for-life-roadmap.pdf

This was developed in discussion with a collaborative of more than 80 stakeholders from the UK MedTech industry, the health family, and academia, with wide support across the sector. Moving forward, the Department will continue to engage with the expanding collaborative, including with integrated care boards, to design and implement the systems that facilitate greater levels of return of used MedTech.