EBME Leadership
what is required, when it is required, and how they are actually going to transfer equipment. However, that puts a big spotlight on the data that clinical engineering actually has,” she pointed out. She explained that the NHP has dictated that at least 30% of the medical equipment should transfer. In terms of the investment in new equipment, standardisation will be key. “It’s all about telling you what you can have, rather than you telling them what you need,” she commented. For ‘big ticket’ high-tech equipment, such as CT and MRI scanners, they will look to achieve procurement gains by working with Supply Chain to ensure they get the best value.
The importance of data The forum highlighted that clinical engineers are the primary holders of comprehensive hospital asset data. Without their close involvement in long-term planning, Trusts risk transferring or buying the wrong technology. “Irrespective of whether or not you have a
new hospital planned, clinical engineers have access to a huge amount of data…However, the data is not always complete; different departments have their own inventories – such as laboratory equipment, imaging equipment, and endoscopy,” Caroline Finlay observed. “I’ve come across theatres that hold their own inventory, which isn’t on the e-Quip system or
the asset management system. This brings into focus the need to not only record the assets, but to also play a huge role in the risk profiling and lifecycle management of replacing medical equipment. Often, it is a case of ‘who speaks loudest’ when it comes to the prioritisation of what gets purchased – and yet, as clinical engineers, we hold the key,” she asserted. In the face of shortages in capital, data insights for execs and stakeholders will be critical: “It is surprising, how little we use our asset management systems to provide detailed planning – not just on an annual basis, but 5 or10
Supply chain resilience: lessons
learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic Following shortages of vital medical equipment and consumables, during the COVID crisis, the need for resilience in the supply chain came to the fore. One of the thought leaders pointed out that when designing a ‘digital hospital’, there needs to be a discussion around “onshore capability”; questions need to be asked on how exposed a hospital may become in a crisis, if “loaded with German, American, Japanese and Chinese technology.” We need to ask: in the event of disruption to the global supply chain, will we still be able to get the parts? One of the delegates commented: “COVID
taught us a valuable lesson. We were far too dependent on overseas technology for a simple respiratory device. I think the government is aware of that now. But is this being discussed in day-to-day supply chain conversations? I’m not sure… Somebody needs to influence the thinking to say, ‘here’s a digital hospital, this is what it needs to look like – by the way, one third has to be onshore capability, otherwise we’re going to be exposed.’” Another member of the
group noted: “The challenge we face is that supply resilience is a top government decision… There was a lot of enthusiasm immediately after COVID, but it hasn’t translated into any discernible difference.” Others pointed out that just onshoring the final “putting together of the product” isn’t a solution, “because you’ve still got to get the parts from everywhere else.” They highlighted the example of resilience issues associated with shortages of bone cement. Operations had to be cancelled across the UK due to a packaging fault at major supplier, who supplied around three-quarters of the bone cement used by the NHS.1
“Everyone thinks about supply resilience
after the problems happen,” one thought leader lamented.
Reference 1. Bone cement: NHS secures “rescue package” of alternative supply, BMJ2026; 392 doi:
https://doi.org/10.1136/ bmj.s379
years ahead,” Caroline Finlay commented. Under the new approach, hospitals will not be permitted to purchase all new equipment for 2032 (when the first of the new hospitals open). This is in part due to the fact that in 10 years’ time, there would be a huge peak in the replacement programme. “What they want to see is a strategy around
how you ‘smooth those curves’, while making sure you’re spending money in the lead up to the new development. But how many people struggle with capital? It’s going to become even more difficult,” Caroline Finlay explained. One of the delegates interjected that NHS Supply Chain is now overseeing NETIS, a national equipment tracking and information system. The centralised data platform aims to consolidate medical equipment asset data from NHS Trusts across the UK. The insights from this system will help to enhance decision-making at national, regional, and local levels – with a view to reducing costs, strengthening resilience and improving patient outcomes. The data will also help to monitor the age profile of equipment and ensure better long-term planning for new equipment. Caroline Finlay pointed out that there are lots
of different ways of capturing asset data and variation between Trusts. However, even within a single Trust with multiple sites, items may be categorised differently across the various locations. “There’s a huge piece of work required around this,” she observed. The forum highlighted that there is a
programme of work underway to: l Build the networks/software. l Integrate different coding systems. l Clean the data.
This will enable the data to be ‘pulled into one huge cloud database’. Dal Jdali, CEO of Integra e-Quip, explained
May 2026 I
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