EBME


speed up fault diagnosis and repairs. The EBME leads were in agreement that there are


challenges around communication between IT and EBME departments, which need to be improved. One of the EBME leaders, who experienced issues with an offsite clinic, explained that this site was networked into a server, located back in the Trust: “I went to the site, to look at the equipment, and they said they’d had an issue with it connecting to the server, so somebody from IT came out and altered some of the network settings on the device. I said, ‘Hang on, a minute, we need to know if there’s been an issue with the device because it’s our service record’.” The EBME lead pointed out that unintended risks can arise if IT alters the device settings, in such scenarios. Hence, they suggested that there needs to be more clearly defined parameters to fully understand exactly ‘at what point IT gets involved’. Some EBME leads said their Trusts were already


working collaboratively with IT and were finding this closer relationship and better integration very beneficial. “We were very lucky that our IT manager put a business case together and we now have a person focused on cybersecurity,” another EBME leader reported. While the relationship between IT and EBME was


working well, at this particular Trust, they felt that more resources are needed to ensure device security: “We know what the risks are… Currently, it’s just myself, as Medical Device Safety Officer (MDSO), and a cybersecurity person working together looking at devices, but it’s not enough.


“Medical engineering needs to be working together with cybersecurity, so they have that expertise between them. It’ll give us something to go on until, in time, things are more defined on whose role it is and what training is appropriate… it’s all very new.” They added that there is too much reliance on OEMs


when it comes to network configurations, software updates and cybersecurity in general. All too often, engineering say, ‘that’s not our territory’ and this needs to change. EBME teams need to be able to challenge the OEMs and hold them to account.


Cross department communication It was reported that one notable Trust in the North has procured an individual to specifically work with their medical engineering team to address such issues. “I’m not saying that has to happen in every organisation, but as long as you’ve got someone in IT who is linking in and learning medical engineering, and you invite them to places like this, it will help them to develop an understanding, so there is a two-way shared learning,” one delegate pointed out.


Some IT departments are more willing to work with clinical engineering than others, the EBME leaders agreed. Consequently, some Trusts are much further ahead, and one healthcare provider was singled out as an exemplar (Sandwell) – where the Medical Engineering department now reports directly into the Director of IT and Digital. This means they ‘work incredibly closely together’. “Obviously, they had a new hospital to deal with,


so there was a lot of focus on the connectivity and infrastructure,” one of the EBME experts commented. “However, hospitals are increasingly bringing in new technologies with connectivity. Whether building a new hospital or refurbishing, you need to make sure that you have a voice and that you are talking with the project team. It’s about getting into that room and explaining. It’s a great idea to bring IT colleagues to an event like EBME Expo too, because there’s a big focus on the connectivity at this conference.”


We need to be able to look at the systems and say, ‘is data coming out or not?’, and ‘what do we need to do about it?’ There needs to be more learning from our side


Another issue highlighted was the fact that there is an increasing trend for IT people to work remotely. This creates challenges in getting the right people onsite to solve connectivity issues together. There are further issues around IT availability on night shifts. When a fault occurs on a vital connected device out of hours, this can present significant issues. “The connectivity or device malfunction often doesn’t materialise until it is displayed on a monitor screen and triggers a message or an alarm to the user. Often, the user doesn’t know who to report it to. We need to create defined roles, on who has ownership for these connectivity issues, and if the user comes to us to deal with it, we need to be trained,” said another one of the delegates. “However, I think there are some potential problems with us becoming trained for that sort of thing – as we will inherit more and more IT jobs. I’m a clinical technologist and I found myself on a night shift in a riser cupboard trying to plug things in – because I was sent on a really good course on medical devices connectivity. “Although I’m a clinical technologist, I’ve got the training for quite a bit of IT stuff. So, because I’m qualified to do that, I found myself troubleshooting beyond the wall, beyond the port, back to the riser cupboard, logging into remote services to see why data is not coming through. I’ve taken on a lot more jobs than my usual, because of the response time,” she explained.


Real-time priorities Iain Threlkeld asked them: “Have you had any resistance from IT, when taking on those roles?” “No, because they’re not inclined to come in on the


night shift,” she responded. “Although there’s an on-call person, sometimes they are hard to get hold of. If you’re in an emergency theatre and you’re not getting your data on your anaesthetic machine, it is preposterous to tell an anaesthetist to stop what they are doing, log a ticket for IT, and we’ll escalate it to someone who will come in ‘when they can’. They need a response straight away. “So, that’s why clinical engineering has inherited these issues and why I was sent on a training course. But I think, if we have a defined role of someone that knows this is their job, they are going to get onto it; they’re going to sort this out. Then the anaesthetist can get the data, which is better for the patient and speeds up the whole process.” Another EBME expert interjected: “The experience I’ve


had is that IT won’t move without a budget code and they have a priority list. So, it’s about getting on this priority list as well. A really important point is that it’s about patient safety and I think patient safety is what gets you into the C-suite priorities. “I believe it’s the role of head of clinical engineering


to take these issues to their exec teams and make them understand, because often the director of IT is an exec member. Quite a few Trusts have very big digital agendas and it’s important to make sure that clinical engineering are part of that digital funding. “The other issue I want to highlight is that we could


be setting ourselves up for a little bit of a challenge in relation to the workforce, because the more skills you give


November 2025 Health Estate Journal 67


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