U.K. Ventilators Cost 569 Million Pounds. Most Are in Storage
The vast majority of the thousands of ventilators manufactured under a U.K. program have gone unused and are sitting in storage.
(Bloomberg) -- The vast majority of the thousands of ventilators manufactured under an emergency U.K. program to treat Covid-19 patients have gone unused and are sitting in storage, the government’s public spending watchdog said in a new report.
The U.K. government spent about 277 million pounds ($356 million) on a program called the Ventilator Challenge that produced 15,200 ventilators, according to the report released Wednesday by the National Audit Office. Of those, only about 450 units, or roughly 3%, have been distributed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson drew criticism from the opposition party earlier this year when he decided against joining a European Union ventilator procurement program and instead issued an appeal to industry idled by the lockdown to switch production to the devices.
Britain had about 9,100 ventilators available at the start of March and then purchased another 11,000 or so as the coronavirus outbreak worsened. Fearing a shortfall of the breathing machines as the number of patients in intensive care rose sharply, the Cabinet Office authorized the Ventilator Challenge. In all, the government spent about 569 million pounds to add to its ventilator stockpile.
But the great majority of ventilators the government bought and commissioned arrived well after the initial wave of cases had peaked in mid-April. As of Sept. 16, only about 2,150 units had been shipped to the National Health Service, according to figures supplied by the health department, including the 450 Ventilator Challenge units.
“Throughout this global pandemic we have done whatever it takes to protect the NHS and save lives,” a Cabinet Office spokesman said. He added that the effort to acquire ventilators, including through the Challenge, “meant every patient who required a ventilator during the pandemic was able to access one.”
The thousands of undistributed ventilators are being stored in warehouses, including the Ministry of Defense’s facility at Donnington, according to the report. It added that there’s a distribution plan in case of further waves of Covid-19.
The National Audit Office report concluded that the Cabinet Office took reasonable steps to control the program’s costs where it could even if the expenses were higher than the audit office would expect in normal times.
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