EBME
is tried and tested. “We have a 16,000 sq ft warehouse already set up for this type of work and currently provide this service for several companies, including Vanguard Healthcare. Equipment like ventilators and infusion pumps cannot simply be left in storage to gather dust – they must be charged and continually maintained. We are ready to support this effort.”
Planning for the future Strange also believes the pandemic has highlighted the need for the NHS to invest in developing in-house skills and knowledge. Training for apprentices and upskilling staff will be crucial to ensure the NHS can mount a robust response in the future: “The Avensys training academy is delivering degree training for biomedical engineers, as well as apprenticeships. But we are also working with Dudley College and the new Institute of Technology in the development of a ‘mock hospital’ for biomedical engineering training. This will train medical engineers – from Level 2, all the way through to honours degree level. The mock hospital is due to open in the Summer of 2021. “This is the future – to raise the profile of medical engineers. We need to shout from the treetops, while it is still in everyone’s minds.”
Caroline Finlay agrees that the sector should think strategically about how it develops the skills required to respond to emergencies of this kind. “In the future, we are going to have to make contingency plans and this needs to include encouraging more people into biomedical engineering. Scientists have their role, but there is far too much emphasis on the science
Penlon anaesthesia units were commissioned for use as ventilators.
element of training schemes run by the NHS, as opposed to the engineering. We need to have a fresh look at how we encourage young engineers into the sector, including developing opportunities around apprenticeships,” she commented. She believes there has been a lack of development and investment in clinical engineering departments, particularly within non-teaching, district general hospitals. There needs to be a shift away from the traditional ‘workshop’, to the bedside. “This pandemic has highlighted the need to put the ‘clinical’ back into engineering. This is a message that will stay with us for quite some time. Clinical engineers do more than just fix equipment in a workshop.
The NHS needs to build a whole workforce and develop the skills required within the clinical engineering sector. This means learning about physiology, being able help clinicians to set up equipment, and to be very much part of the patient experience,” she concluded.
A production line was created to commission the Bair Hugger patient warmers. This included control checks, electrical safety testing and temperature checks.
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Conclusion Ultimately, the role of clinical engineers from Bart’s and commercial partners was central to the equipment management at the Nightingale and exemplified the absolute need for this level of expertise to be properly utilised by Trust management. “The engagement between clinical engineering and medical consultants has brought a much needed focus to the management of risk during the astonishing pace at which this hospital evolved. Arguably the elements of incoherence in the central supply chain would not have occurred if the expert advice of experienced clinical engineers had been utilised,” concluded Malcolm Birch. “The crisis has demonstrated the paramount importance of clinical engineering to both the technical and clinical governance of medical equipment, particularly, in this case, within the ICU – but also across the delivery of safe and effective healthcare in our Trusts.” Ultimately, we should take the time to celebrate the huge efforts of the clinical engineering community and the personal commitment shown to ensuring the safety of patients during this national emergency. What happens to the equipment installed at the field hospitals, the lessons learned, and the strategy for future responses will all be up for debate. Clinical engineers will need to have a central role in this discussion, going forward.
CSJ OCTOBER 2020
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