Press Release - The Management of Medical Equipment in NHS
Acute Trusts in England
10 June 1999
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to
Parliament today that NHS Acute Trusts in England held medical
equipment with an estimated replacement value of some £3 billion.
In 1996-97 they spent some £220 million on acquiring medical
equipment annually and a further £120 million on maintenance.
Figures for 1997-98 are similar.
Medical equipment includes all medical devices connected to
patients as part of their treatment and care in hospital, and
medical devices used for diagnostic and laboratory purposes. It
represents a substantial asset for the NHS that needs to be managed
efficiently to provide good quality care of patients at least
cost.
Sir John identifies many examples of good practice in the
management of medical equipment, from strategic overview, to day to
day activities such as maintenance, and in the field of medical
equipment safety. But he concludes that overall more needs to be
done by trusts to manage their equipment assets effectively.
Important measures include the needs:
- to allocate clear responsibility for medical equipment at board
level;
- to ensure that inventory information is comprehensive and used
fully in decision-making;
- to better co-ordinate the procurement of medical equipment
across trusts, with more involvement of technical personnel who can
also usefully contribute to non-clinical aspects of user training;
and
- to take action that should help to improve standards of
reporting of adverse safety incidents and to reduce their
occurrence.
Sir John recommends that the NHS Executive and NHS Trusts should
investigate unexplained variations in the value of medical
equipment holdings to see whether some trusts are under-provided
with medical equipment compared to similar trusts. There may be
good reasons why some trusts appear to have higher than expected
amounts of medical equipment and maintenance costs, but there is
scope for investigating holdings of medical equipment to see
whether economies of up to a maximum of £400 million are
possible.
Sir John considers that the benchmarking of costs and management
practices could yield benefits in lower costs, quality improvements
and reduced safety risks. For example:
- medical equipment maintenance costs vary widely across trusts,
and there may be scope for keeping equipment in good order and
achieving savings up to a maximum of £18 million a year. This money
would then be available for the enhancement of patient care;
- while clinical requirements dictate that a minimum number of
makes and models of the same item of medical equipment is needed in
a hospital, where appropriate, standardisation can save on costs,
improve flexibility in the use of medical equipment for patient
care, and reduce the potential for serious incidents; and
- it is essential that all users of medical equipment are
properly trained.
Sir John notes that the Accounts Commission for Scotland have
adapted some of the methodology used by the National Audit Office
to review the management of medical equipment by trusts in
Scotland. The scope for local audits of NHS trusts in England and
Wales, drawing on National Audit Office findings, has been
discussed with the Audit Commission.
Notes for Editors
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at http://www.nao.org.uk/ Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office employing some 750 staff. He and
the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 44/99
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