Engineers left to own devices
If it isn’t lighting up, pinging or beeping it’s time to call the bio-medical engineers who maintain and repair the 4,000 medical devices in use at Ealing Hospital.
“It takes a bit of detective work,” says manager Tamir Rajani whose team fix everything from infusion pumps and vital sign monitors to defibrillators and dialysis machines.
“Every piece of equipment is tested once a year, but things get dropped, knocked or suffer from general wear and tear. We deal with around 30-40 call-outs a week.
“Some of the equipment is very complex so we often refer back to the operating manuals or ring the suppliers if we get stuck. “I really enjoy the challenge of figuring out why something isn’t working.
"Ventilators are one of the biggest challenges but it is satisfying to figure out what the problem is.”
So, what is one of the commonest recurring problems?
“People forget to switch something on. They see a complex machine and forget the solution might be as simple as checking if it is plugged in.”