RoJo is correct, of course there is more to checking that equipment is safe to use and gives accurate results than sticking a label on it. Unfortunately this is the tick a box stick a label on nonsense society we have become. I have been involved with electrical testing in its many different forms and I can say that PAT testing is a complete farce that exploits peoples' ignorance. This results in equipment that should be electrically tested being missed and other equipment being unnecessarily tested. It is not much good Joe Pat sticking a label saying test passed, safe to use etc. on a Vitalograph when the bellows are out of calibration, but whose fault is all of this? Is it Joe Pat trying to earn a living, a busy practice manager who just wants a bit of paper saying test passed or Med Eng Depts charging too much?
The answer is; what they want is a good dependable engineering journeyman (like myself and other greybeards) to go around local surgeries and advise them on what needs testing and calibrating and what does not. In fact after I retired a number of surgeries contacted me asking if I would continue in a self employed capacity. Perhaps I should have, but due to the high cost of the test equipment I declined. However I have always thought it a good idea to have a central pool of this equipment available for hire for people like myself to earn the odd shilling, even a club of greybeards. Until then when I visit my local surgery I expect to see Joe Pat labels on all and sundry.
