Devices in Practice - a guide for health and social care professionals

INTRODUCTION

Medical devices play an crucial role in care and treatment. This booklet provides a practical guide to medical devices for all health and social care service professionals involved in primary care.

This booklet is for:

• health and social care professionals working in a range of primary care settings including residential and nursing homes
• health and social care organisations as they develop policies and protocols for the use of medical devices
• voluntary and charitable organisations who provide devices direct to individuals or health and social care organisations.

Within these groups, people will have different levels of knowledge, expertise, responsibility and accountability concerning the use of medical devices.

Increasing individuals are buying their own medical devices privately. In these circumstances, health and social care professionals need to be aware that it is the responsibility of the owner to ensure that the medical devices are appropriately used and maintained.

Changes in the health care technology and clinical practice mean that increasingly complex devices are being used in primary care. This is against a background of legal requirements with which devices and users must comply, together with an increased concern about the quality of care by the public and professionals.

The booklet contains a series of checklists to help ensure informed procurement and the safe use of medical devices.