British Medical Auctions

British Medical Auctions sells surplus medical equipment from NHS facilities and private healthcare providers, and its catalogue is unusually specific for this market — lots are listed by manufacturer, model and reference number, with the year of manufacture stated where it is known. That level of identification matters when you are buying a device that has to be serviced and supported afterwards.

What you can buy

• Ophthalmic diagnostics: a clear speciality — optical coherence tomographers, fundus cameras, corneal topographers and photocoagulator lasers from Zeiss, TopCon, Heidelberg, Oculus and Nidek.
• Surgical microscopes, including high-value dual-operated theatre systems.
• Anaesthesia machines and ventilators from the intensive care and theatre estate.
• Operating tables and theatre furniture.
• ENT and endoscopy systems and their accessories.

How the bidding works

Lots carry a published starting bid rather than an estimate, and the range is wide — a few hundred pounds for a ventilator or an operating table, several thousand for imaging diagnostics, and into five figures for a surgical microscope. That transparency makes it easy to judge before registering whether a category is within reach. Sales run as timed online auctions with a lots-ending-soon section.

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What to check before you bid

Model and manufacture year are given precisely, so use them: check with the manufacturer whether the model is still supported and what a service contract would cost, because an unsupported diagnostic device can be unusable in a clinical setting whatever its condition. Establish where the lot physically sits — equipment may still be at the hospital rather than at Bracknell — and what removal involves. Anything storing patient data needs a documented wipe before it leaves the seller's premises.