Unfortunately in this case we could not calibrate the equipment ourselves as it is a specialised piece of kit - (Eurotherm Chesil chart recorder) used to test Autoclaves. In any case that would be a secondary calibration and therefore not traceable to national standards.
Good point about collaboration with other hospitals though. The technician involved was chasing that up this week. We have recently merged with 2 other local trusts and I suspect that this will be on an agenda for discussion pretty soon. I am not sure we could loan ours out on a regular basis though as it does take a bit of a hammering use wise. The only reason we havn't needed it for the past 2 months is that the Autoclaves in our HSDU have recently undergone an annual test by Welsh Health Estates and they use their own test equipment. It is during this time that we send our kit away for cal.
Completely agree with your comments about the supposed 'National Health Service' and our lack of an NHS Calibration laboratory. This exactly what HM Forces do and it seems to work for them. It would save taxpayers money and time in my opinion.
