MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
devices from site, and, of course, presents your organisation with a cheque at the end of it all.
Orkney Islands example
One of the services that Hilditch offers is healthcare site clearance, and subsequent equipment re-sale, and a good example of the comprehensive service we can provide here involved a re-location from ‘old’ to ‘new’ site at a hospital on the Orkney Islands.
The Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall serves approximately 21,500 people, and is the main hospital in the Orkney archipelago, a group of 70 islands located 10 miles (16 km) off the north-eastern Caithness coast of Scotland. Only about 20 of these small islands are inhabited. The award- winning Balfour Hospital’s ‘new site’ remains at the heart of the Orcadian community, as it is located next to the ‘old site’. It is a purpose-built facility fitted out with new equipment to provide the highest standard of care to its patients. Any project faces a whole host of idiosyncratic hurdles. In the relocation of a healthcare institution such as this it is often the case that two physical sites operate simultaneously to ensure that patient services continue uninterrupted. The only caveat is that not all equipment can be transferred over to the new site, along with inpatients that are receiving treatment. This means that a lot of functional equipment becomes redundant as a result of the transfer.
Facilitating resale
The expertise of the Hilditch Group was enlisted to facilitate the resale of the huge amount of unused specialist medical, commercial catering, general site, and
Aboard the snow-covered ferry on the return journey from the Orkneys.
facilities equipment that was left over from the transfer. The Hilditch Group was chosen because we are the industry experts for healthcare site clearance and the re-sale of medical equipment. Many months were spent liaising with representatives from NHS Orkney to establish project parameters, and to ensure that the Hilditch Group could satisfy the health board’s needs and wants. An initial site-visit from the Hilditch Group allowed assets of value to be photographed and catalogued. From this the scope was ascertained, and on these terms the project was agreed.
Challenging geography Selling any specialist equipment somewhere so far north is a challenge in itself; in addition to the long distance, there is a 90-minute ferry ride to contend with. Selling such a wide array of items could take an extremely long time to arrange. With a brand new hospital to run, vital capital was required for maintaining patient services, and with the deadline swiftly looming, prompt and decisive action was required. We grouped similar
assets into nine auctions for ease of promotion and identification by customers. A variety of public auctions were held online, and they finished on 17 January this year. These auctions followed the format of a timed online auction, where bids are taken through an online portal, the auction ends at a set time. and the buyer with the highest bid wins. The diverse content of the auctions covered: n Medical, laboratory, and nursing home equipment – including bath hoists, wheelchair scales, defibrillators, autoclaves, sterilising equipment, drugs refrigeration, centrifuges, blood refrigeration, bone densometers, infusion pumps, dry viewers, endoscopes, stack systems, incubators, anaesthetic machines, mobile X-rays, operating tables, operating lights, and patient monitors.
n Dental equipment – including dental suites and spittoons.
n X-ray equipment – including two fixed X-ray rooms.
n Sterilising equipment – including equipment from the Sterile Services Department.
October 2020 Health Estate Journal 79
©Hilditch Group
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108
