Keeping Hospitals Moving

HEALTHCARE Science Week (9-15 March) was an opportunity to raise the profile of the Medical Equipment Management Services (MEMS), who are the unseen heroes of keeping patient care running.
Almost 70 members of the team across Southend, Basildon and Broomfield hospitals are involved in maintaining over 65,000 medical devices. That’s machines at almost every point of a patient’s care, from beds to MRI machines and ventilators to patient monitors.
Gary Cordery, Head of MEMS at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “If a bed won’t move, a monitor won’t turn on, or a vital piece of theatre equipment fails, patient care can’t simply stop. That’s where we come in.
“For example, during a patient procedure, we assess whether it’s safer to fix the equipment immediately or swap it for another device. The priority is always patient safety.”
The team is also responsible for the entire lifecycle of medical equipment, which Mr Cordery describes as “cradle to grave”, with them working closely with clinical services to plan the replacement of outdated equipment.
The highly skilled nature of the job means Mr Cordery’s team has to keep pace with changing technology through continuous training.
He said: “People often assume that fixing a complex imaging system is very different from repairing a bed, but both need significant technical skill, and both are critical to safety. A bed failure can be just as dangerous as a failure on a high-end imaging machine. That’s why our engineers are trained across as much equipment as possible.”
Mr Cordery’s immensely proud of his role and the department’s very successful apprenticeship programme which is helping to bring in new trainees.
One of those is Jamie Thornton, who joined the Trust as an apprentice nearly two years ago after completing his A-levels. Mr Thornton said: “I didn’t want to go to uni, but I wanted to get a higher education qualification still. I’ve always wanted to work in healthcare.”
Before that Mr Thornton worked at a bowling alley repairing arcade machines, an experience he says helped him take his first steps into engineering. He joked: “It’s technically a much more advanced version of that.”
Mr Thornton is currently based in the infusion workshop at Basildon Hospital, focusing on infusion pumps as they come in from wards for repair and servicing.
He can be working on 10 pieces of kit a day and has already worked on a wide mix of equipment – from beds and couches, to blood pressure monitors, CPAPs and bladder scanners.
Looking ahead, he’s keen to build his skills on more complex equipment, including defibrillators and anaesthetic machines.
And when asked what makes him most proud, it’s all about patient care, he said: “I get a real sense of achievement when I fix a bed, and I instantly see the porters moving it down the corridor to be used. I know a patient’s going to be put straight on that.”
Picture: Jamie Thornton
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