Hospitals: Magnetic Resonance Imagers
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to procure Simens Sola MRI scanners for hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The Government is committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. We have invested £2.3 billion into diagnostic capacity, which will provide the NHS with the tools they need to deliver an additional 9.5 million tests by 2029.
Individual NHS trusts and foundation trusts are responsible and accountable for their own purchasing decisions, which will include equipment. NHS organisations are independent commercial entities, and it is for an NHS procuring authority to satisfy itself on how best to obtain quality and value for money through its procurement activity.
Local NHS organisations have access to a wide range of procurement routes, but the Government has put in place a range of regional and national contract framework agreements to help NHS bodies make informed choices about the products and the route through which they are bought. These include NHS Supply Chain, a national body which is responsible for procuring and delivering the majority of consumables, medical equipment, and other supplies into the NHS. Information on NHS Supply Chain’s framework agreement for the supply of MRI scanners and associated options and related services is available at the following link:
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