Buying Used Medical Equipment on a Purchase Order: NHS & Public Sector Guide (2026)

September 7, 2026

Most guides to buying used medical equipment are written for someone paying by card. That is not how a trust, a university or a local authority buys anything. If you are working inside a procurement process, the equipment questions are the easy part — the paperwork is what decides whether the purchase happens.

This is how it works from the supplier side, written plainly.

Purchase orders

We accept purchase orders. In practice the sequence is:

You tell us what you want and we confirm it is still available. Almost everything we sell is a single unit, so this step matters more than it would with a distributor.
We issue a quote or pro-forma invoice with our full company details, the item, the price, and shipping.
Your finance team raises a PO against that quote.
We hold the item against the PO, dispatch, and invoice on your standard terms.

The step that goes wrong most often is the first one. On one-off used equipment, a quote raised in week one may be for a machine that sells in week two. If your approval cycle is long, say so up front and ask us to reserve the item.

Pro-forma invoices and quotes

Available on request for any item, at any time, with no obligation. If your process needs three written quotes, ask — we would rather give you a clean quote you can actually use than have you screenshot a web page.

VAT

A full VAT invoice is supplied with every order. Two things worth knowing:

Used equipment is standard-rated in the ordinary way. Some purchases by eligible bodies for specific purposes can qualify for VAT relief — that determination is yours to make with your finance team, and you will need to supply the relevant declaration. We cannot make that call for you.
For export outside the UK, VAT treatment depends on destination and evidence of export. See our guide for overseas buyers.

The 31 March problem

UK public sector budgets run to 31 March, and a great deal of equipment gets bought in February and March because unspent budget disappears. Two practical consequences:

Start early if you can. February and March are the busiest months for everyone in this trade, including hauliers.
Tell us your deadline. Not the date you would like it — the date after which the money is gone. We will tell you honestly whether it is achievable, including for large items that need a specialist courier.

What to ask any used equipment supplier

Whether or not you buy from us, these are the questions worth asking:

What exactly was tested, and what was not? "Fully working" is not an answer. "Powers on, passes self-test, imaging confirmed on all elements, battery runtime not tested" is.
What is included and what is missing? Leads, probes, chargers, trolleys and manuals are where the value sits and where things go missing.
Is this the actual item in the photographs? For one-off stock it should be.
What is the provenance? "Ex-NHS" should mean something specific, not be a marketing word.
What happens if it arrives faulty? Get the returns position in writing before the PO is raised.
Who is responsible for decontamination and commissioning? Normally the buyer. Confirm it.

What we do not do

We do not supply equipment as clinically validated or ready for patient use. Commissioning, electrical safety testing, calibration and any decontamination before clinical use are the buyer's responsibility, and your biomedical engineering department will expect that. We would rather tell you that at quote stage than have it surface after delivery.

Who we supply

NHS trusts, private hospitals, universities and research institutes, independent laboratories, dental and aesthetic clinics, veterinary practices, charities and trade exporters. Dispatched from Blackburn, Lancashire.