A new strategy – the Design for Life Roadmap – is being published to radically cut the number of single-use medical devices in the health service and reduce the reliance on foreign imports.

Disposable medical devices substantially contribute to the 156,000 tonnes of clinical waste that the NHS produces every year in England. The roadmap paves the way to slashing this waste and maximising reuse, remanufacture and recycling in the NHS.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Every year, millions of expensive medical devices are chucked in the bin after being used just once. We are going to work closely with our medical technology industry, to eliminate waste and support homegrown medtech and equipment.'

The Design for Life programme aims to reduce and achieve an NHS-wide move to sustainable alternatives. The roadmap sets out 30 actions to achieve this, including how the government will work with companies to encourage the production of more sustainable products, along with training for NHS staff on how to use them.

The government says will encourage industry figures to innovate by making sure benefits of reusable MedTech are part of how the NHS chooses the products it buys.

Health minister Baroness Gillian Merron said: ‘Design for Life doesn't just deliver on the health mission, to build an NHS fit for the future, it also delivers on our growth mission to make the UK a life science superpower and our commitment to get the NHS to net zero by 2045.'