I was hoping to avoid having to labour the point, but there seems to be a bit of misunderstanding about how to go about putting together an Asset Register, especially regarding relative weightings of different types of equipment. But, here goes:-
The Asset Register should not be simply a complete inventory listing of every single item of equipment. To accurately define the maintenance commitment, only items for which planned maintenance (routine inspections, periodic electrical safety testing etc.) is either obviously applicable or a foreseeable requirement should be included. These will be, in the main, electromedical or medical gas equipment, mechanical items critical to patient care and equipment providing essential support services. Such items will come under (what may be known as) Type A (see below), justifying an individual entry in the Asset Register.
Simple items of multiple quantity requiring a lower level of maintenance effort should not be listed as single entries or else an inflated Asset Register will result. Such items may be known as multiple maintainable items, and will be either Type B1 or Type B2 entries according to their distribution. In order to account for work, time and parts expended against such items, a record (on file or computer) should be kept under “Miscellaneous & Minor Equipment” for each User Department (or sub-location). Each of these records should be allocated an equipment Control Number as if it were for a single item of capital equipment. Electrical items requiring periodic safety testing should not be included under this heading (as these should have individual records).
In general, “Miscellaneous & Minor Equipment” should be those items that ordinarily do not warrant individual records, and may include, for instance:-
Flowmeters
Instruments (eg, scissors, ophthalmoscopes, surgical instruments).
Medical Gas Cylinders
Pipeline Suction Units
Pressure Regulators
Sphygmomanometers
Stethoscopes
Stop Clocks ... etc.
Types of Asset Register entry (meaning a single equipment record card or file in a manual system, or a single record input to a computer system: each entry should be given a unique equipment Control Number):-
Type A: Individual Entry: where a single maintainable item of equipment, or each individual example of a maintainable item of a particular type, justifies its own record. Such equipment would be individually scheduled for planned maintenance.
Type B1: Collective Entry - Grouped: a single entry of items of simple equipment of the same type, that can be grouped together for the purposes of maintenance (ie, stored, or used, in the same location or close proximity). Such equipment would be scheduled for planned maintenance collectively, by type and location (eg, "all flowmeters of a certain type in Ward 12").
Type B2: Collective Entry - Dispersed: a single entry of multiple items of simple equipment of the same type, that are in various locations. Such equipment would be scheduled for planned maintenance collectively, by type only (eg, "all bag resuscitators, throughout the Hospital").
Any further questions?
