20,000 Covid crisis ventilators were scrapped, FOI reveals

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By Mike Waites

Thousands of ventilators bought during the COVID-19 pandemic were destroyed after never being used by the NHS, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

Public money, totalling more than £100 million, was lost in a series of disposals from the UK’s strategic reserve of intensive care unit equipment built up during the pandemic, according to official data.