Far be it from me to suggest yet another
quango, but surely such a mammoth organisation as the NHS, with its vast holdings of technical equipment (not to mention its seemingly endless demands for more public money) really needs an Engineering Authority. It could simply be a small team, headed by an "equipment Czar", with overall authority to "call the shots" on equipment maintenance.
Something like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the States, for example.
The CMS comes up with very sensible policies, such as the "Alternate Equipment Management" (AEM) strategy that alows deviation from traditional, manufacturer-recommended maintenance (MRM) schedules. It advocates a practical, common sense approach, rather than just another fancy idea that gets left to wither on the vine once the novelty has worn off.
Anyone interested in AEM can look it up for themselves on line (to save me any more time here). You could start
here.
Sometimes the old ways (organisations
etc.) can't adapt ... then new ways come along, and we do things differently.
