Thousands of ventilators bought to treat Covid-19 patients are sitting in warehouses due to a lack of demand, the spending watchdog has revealed. In one case, 750 ventilators purchased at a cost of £2.2million had to be withdrawn on the advice of clinicians. At the start of the pandemic, modelling from China suggested that up to 30,000 ventilators would be needed to treat patients with coronavirus in the UK. Ventilators which came from established NHS suppliers cost an average of £20,000 each - but those from new suppliers on world markets cost £30,100. The NAO study also found that the Department of Health has spent around £292million excluding VAT on its ventilation programme.

Source: Daily Mail September 30, 2020 01:07 UTC