Good old Darren. As enthusiastic as ever! smile

Even when it was more appropriately known as the Institute of Hospital Engineering, IHEEM never really served biomed very well. Back then, you got a biomed-related article in the journal perhaps once every couple of years, if you were lucky.

These days, outside of the UK, no-one even knows what "Estates" means. And why indeed should they? It's a strange bit of NHS-speak. Just in case NHS-types aren't aware of the alternatives, "hospital engineering departments" overseas are often known as:-

Facilities (as in Facilities and Maintenance: F&M)
Engineering (nice one)
Utilities (as in Utilities and Maintenance: U&M)
M&E (Mechanical and Electrical engineering)
Building Services ... etc.

I have also known "Technical Services" (which sounds reasonable to me), with biomed a part of it.

What's wrong with calling the Hospital Engineer the, er ... Hospital Engineer? Who knows, the position could even be filled occasionally by an ex-biomed. Rather than the more usual ex-boiler fitter, electrician, or (as I have mentioned recently), chef!


If you don't inspect ... don't expect.