With the push on developing nurse training, medical devices procurement, equipment libraries and medical engineering, I have been surprised to see a change in the way these 4 strings are managed. At some Hospitals, the structure now has a Nurse heading up the service (rather than an engineer).

I have always tried to develop our EBME services to deliver in all of these areas. I had never considered concentrating on maintenance.

I would like to poll your opinion on what service you think an EBME dept should provide?

The last one named, of course, plus tech support of the clincal lab, imaging, CSSD and wherever possible, IT and anything else "technical".

The best reporting chain I was ever in was one where I came under the Director of Nursing. The second best was when I reported to the Hospital Administrator, and the worse (by far) were those posts where I came under the wing of "Engineering".

Biomed is primarily a support service, in support of nursing, and the medical staff. So why not report to Nursing, or the Chief of Professional Services (or Chief Medical Officer, or whatever else the Senior Medic is called)?

I think that it is important to have a good manager that is willing to support their staff. That does not have to be an engineer, but an engineer may have a better understanding of the big picture.

Perhaps I was just unlucky, then, John in having Hospital Engineers who were definitely only looking at the little picture (eg, the boiler room, and the elevators), with little or no appreciation of what biomed is all about (yes, even after enduring "lectures" from Yours Truly)!

Meanwhile, in one well-known North London hospital where I worked (as an agency technician), the Facilities Director (in whose Directorate the biomed shed came under), was, in fact, a chef! What did he know about biomed services? I'll leave you to speculate as to the answer to that one! (and no puns about "cooking the books" or "catering to the needs of the nurses", etc., please)

In my experience the role of a good manager is to make things happen. This usually takes the form of supporting his staff to undertake their duties in a safe and productive manner.

Alas, my short experience of the NHS has seen many managers more content with supporting bureaucracy and maintaining the status quo. They remind me of many years ago when I worked for a large nationlised industry where it was like a gentlemans' club with managers only worrying about their pension entitlements.

Good managers are born and not bred and I have had the fortune to work for such people; they certainly don't need to be good engineers, just people that want a quality job done in a timely manner by motivated staff. Staff that feel supported and appreciated by their manager become motivated and the ones that don't are best out of it.

Barney

Lead, follow ... or get out of the way?

I agree with the sentiments above.
Unfortunately there are some managers who believe that they have minions to carry out their decrees from on high and wouldn't think of actually communicating with their team direct. In addition, they still believe that a hierarchial management style is still the only way to operate within the NHS. Unfortunately, this leads to dissention in the ranks and poor work attitude from the guys down on the shop floor.
I know, I've been there and got out, fortunately!!!

First and foremost the services that we provide should be what the customer wants - from the top of the organisation preferably, i.e. medical director or board level. However before they make the decisions what they want they should be made aware of what we can actually do, and the sort of services we could provide if adequately resourced to do so.

A bit contorted that, Richard, if you don't mind me saying. We don't tell them what we do ... we do what they want!

No Geoff, not really. It would be ridiculous for a maintenance department to take on something it is not equipped to do - as it would for management to ask for something that cannot be provided.