EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management PPM Schedule

The "location based" approach is a useful one. You can balance the total PM man-hours required literally across the calendar so that (for example) the Clinical Laboratories (almost always the largest numbers of items) is scheduled for (say) the months of April and October (assuming a 6-monthly PM interval) ... or April or October if you can only manage an annual cycle.

All other user departments are slotted in across the calendar on a similar basis. Some months could see two or three departments cleared, with the aim of a similar number of man-hours assigned for each month (in other words:- a balanced programme).

When such a scheme is adopted there is no need to worry about "30-day windows"; just send the blokes to the department(s) due each month and have them go through the whole lot.

Such is a practical method, and one that I have used a number of times in the past. It was a simple system, and the blokes understood it well enough (which always helps). All everyone had to do was look at the calendar and then get on with it. The user departments also knew when to look forward to the undoubted joy of our blokes descending upon them.

Of course there were (are) always items needing special attention outside of the calendar-based programme (ventilators and so forth) but the ideas outlined were implemented with success at places where hitherto they had been running maintenance - actually repairs only - simply on an "as required" basis (that is:- no organised PM at all). In fact I had been sent to those places expressly to "get the PM moving" (as it was a contractual requirement - and financial penalties were being rumoured). It was a start; and you have to start somewhere.

Hi Alf,

Would you be able to run this past CQC and explain why the PPM dates have expired and that there is no documentation to certify that low class equipment can be used with an expired PPM date?