MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
Redundant EBME devices can achieve significant value at auction.
incubators, are perceived to need replacing sooner, as they are critical to patient life, and newer units offer greater clinical efficiency.
n Equipment specification: For example, a 64 slice CT-scanner will obviously be preferential over a 16 slice CT, as it provides a direct diagnostic benefit, and gives a direct improvement in patient care.
For private healthcare providers, it is also worth taking into account your organisation’s ‘brand values’ and marketing objectives. One would assume that these directly influence the spend allocated for new equipment – on the basis that the higher the desired perception of the brand, or the frequency with which a competitor replaces their equipment, then the more frequently medical devices will be renewed to give the impression that the organisation is a market leader. However, more often than not private hospitals have a more relaxed approach to replacing their equipment, as their equipment replacement polices don’t fall under the same guidelines as the NHS.
Forecasting and budgeting It is important that you carry out a cost- benefit analysis for all of your assets. The merits of medical devices existing within an organisation’s structure should be evaluated based upon the Total Cost of Ownership for a reasonable length of time, to be able to work out fluctuations and averages in costs; five years is a good standard term as a rule of thumb. Evaluating the cost of medical equipment over time will identify the total cost of operating the devices, and how this affects profit in a healthcare organisation. Whatever the number of items that your organisation possesses, you should have a database of all your assets incorporating all of the essential information for the
Regular repair through Planned Preventative Maintenance contracts ensures that devices provide uninterrupted service.
assets, including age, physical condition, service history, and annual repair costs. Most importantly, you should have estimated replacement dates in the calendar to be able to project capital expenditures over at least the next five years.
Valuation and asset management software solutions
There are software-as-a-service systems on the market that can calculate how much your old medical equipment would be worth if you sold it now, and equally, its likely value if instead you sold it in ‘X’ number of years. These systems are especially useful if you have to plan the management of a large number of medical assets; for instance if you are a private healthcare organisation or a lease company. However, if you only have a couple of items that you are replacing, then any reputable medical resale agent will happily give you a free valuation of your items. As we are all aware, taking the analogy of the depreciation of items such as motor vehicles, the same amount of depreciation does not occur each year. A car is likely to depreciate more in the first few years, and less as it is nearing the end of its life. Good residual value prediction software will give you a smooth curve. Beware of lease companies and medical
asset resale agents that calculate depreciation in essence as a straight line, from price new to zero value at the end of the equipment’s life. As long as the item is still working, there will be someone out there willing to buy it.
Redundant items heading to the scrap merchant to help recoup costs after a hospital site clearance. Medical devices destined for WEEE disposal have already been registered and/or separated.
78 Health Estate Journal October 2020
Disposing of your medical devices There are various options to consider when removing redundant equipment from site. Some manufacturers will happily buy back old equipment to keep the value of their new equipment high. Disposing of medical devices is not as simple as throwing the device in the skip, sending it to the scrap yard, or putting it up on eBay when it is considered to be obsolete. All electrical biomedical devices have the potential to contain patient-identifiable data, and the Data Protection Act of 2018 decrees that any potential for the data to be passed on must be removed. Even if putting items into a skip, you will have to follow the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment recycling (WEEE) directives to make sure that everything is accounted for. Items that could potentially hold data require data wiping certification prior to disposal. While there can be a perception that disposing of redundant or unused equipment is a major inconvenience, the reality is that this is usually attributable to a lack of resources within the organisation. Even though your organisation may perceive the item to be obsolete, the item, or its parts, may still be of use to someone else. Many healthcare organisations from overseas cannot afford £60,000 for a brand-new ultrasound, but they are willing to pay £8,000 for your functional secondhand one; giving you funds that you can re-invest back into your patient services. In addition, selling your redundant medical devices through a resale agent removes the hassle of organising data wiping, WEEE disposal, and removing the
©Hilditch Group
©Hilditch Group
©Hilditch Group
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