Electro-Biomedical Engineering
A new NHS needs a new engineering model
Esther Coleman explains why intelligent asset tracking will be crucial in assisting Electro-Biomedical Engineering (EBME) in delivering the Government’s NHS 10-Year Plan.
The Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England sets out three system-wide shifts that will shape the NHS for the next decade: a decisive move toward care delivered in community settings; a rapid acceleration of digital transformation; and the embedding of preventative approaches across care pathways. These are not just policy aspirations, they represent a fundamental re-engineering of how care is delivered, coordinated and operationally supported. Together, these shifts demand an NHS capable of operating across more dispersed environments, underpinned by stronger digital foundations and more agile operational systems than ever before. The Plan frames this transformation as urgent, describing the system as being in “critical condition” and requiring decisive reform. What the Plan does not state explicitly, but what is central to its success, is that none of these ambitions can be realised without the work of clinical engineering/ Electro-Biomedical Engineering (EBME) teams. Every digital care model, virtual ward, remote monitoring programme and community diagnostic hub depends on medical devices that are safe, functional, compliant, traceable and available exactly where and when they are needed. As equipment becomes more distributed, mobile and more connected, EBME services become the operational backbone of the emerging NHS ecosystem. Today’s biomedical device landscape bears
little resemblance to that of a decade ago. The largely hospital-centred model with predictable device movement has been replaced by a fluid ecosystem where equipment circulates across
acute sites, community teams, third-party locations and patient homes. Device fleets continue to grow, yet engineering teams rarely expand at the same pace. Traditional asset registers, paper-based workflows and reactive locating processes cannot cope with this level of complexity. To operate safely and efficiently in this
environment, EBME teams need real-time visibility, meaningful utilisation data and digital infrastructure capable of supporting a distributed, fast-moving, data-rich equipment estate. Intelligent asset tracking is becoming
the critical enabler of this shift and, more importantly, the enabler of the EBME profession’s evolution. Without this foundation, the core ambitions of the 10-Year Plan i.e. faster access, reduced waiting times, digitally enabled pathways and preventative care, cannot be operationally delivered.
Equipment routinely moves between hospital sites, neighbourhood teams, partner organisations and temporary clinical spaces. Without continuous location insight, this creates a substantial operational burden.
How the 10-Year Plan changes the demands on EBME For decades, clinical engineering worked within a contained model: devices lived mainly within hospital walls, movements were predictable, and retrieval for Planned, Preventative Maintenance (PPM) was manageable. That world has disappeared. One of the most significant shifts in the
10-Year Plan is the expansion of virtual wards, community diagnostics and home-based monitoring. These services push equipment far beyond traditional boundaries. Engineers are increasingly responsible for devices whose location, utilisation and movement patterns are difficult to predict without digital tools. Equipment routinely moves between hospital sites, neighbourhood teams, partner organisations and temporary clinical spaces. Without continuous location insight, this creates a substantial operational burden. It also risks undermining the Plan’s ambition to reduce delays and cancellations, as missing or unavailable equipment directly contributes to postponed clinics, slower discharges and extended waiting lists. Device mobility has fundamentally changed.
Portable monitors, infusion pumps, point of care diagnostics and respiratory devices follow patients and pressures across the system.
June 2026 I
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