Liaison Officer conference

  

MHRA Liaison Officer Conference 2008 - Moving Forward

The seventh national Liaison Officer Conference “Moving Forward” took place on Friday 14 November 2008 at the Manchester Conference Centre.

Over 200 delegates, guests and professionals from all areas of the NHS, social care and the private sector attended the conference this year. Speakers included representatives from the MHRA, University of Birmingham and University of Surrey.

An Audience Response System was again used during the question and answer sessions. This facilitated direct communication between the speakers and the Liaison Officers.

Dr John Perrins from the Committee on the Safety of Devices, gave the keynote address. In a very entertaining way he described the importance of the Liaison Officer’s role, both from the need to disseminate Medical Device Alerts and other safety information and to channel adverse incident reports to the MHRA. He thanked the Liaison Officers for their efforts, acknowledging that, for many, the role was only a small part of their overall job.

There followed a very dramatic performance by Tom Clutton-Brock, ably assisted by Mike Peel! They acted out a humorous scenario where a senior clinician was reusing a single-use medical device, against all the guidance issued by the MHRA!

During the morning session, a number of MHRA staff gave presentations on a range of topics. Philip Grohmann spoke about the recently introduced Central Alerting System that had replaced the Safety Alert Broadcast System for the transmission of Medical Device Alerts and other important safety publications.

Clive Bray presented the new ideas for an electronic Medical Device Alert system, intended to facilitate the distribution of the MHRA’s safety notices.

Roy Saunders provided an update on adverse incident reporting and the importance of ensuring that all medical device related incidents are reported to the MHRA.

Andy Crosbie explained the process the MHRA uses to assess the Field Safety Notices issued by manufacturers and Chris Brittain outlined the recently introduced MHRA web site pages dedicated to certain areas of healthcare specialisation.

The afternoon session was dedicated to a number of case studies, which illustrated the importance of reporting medical device adverse incidents and the outcomes of a number of investigations.

Gary Thorpe spoke about Point of Care Testing, concentrating on blood glucose meters and blood sampling devices for use by diabetic patients. On a similar theme, Stephen Halloran discussed the effect of clear instructions for use with a range of POCT devices.
Susanne Ludgate presented a very interesting case study on the problems encountered with metal-on-metal hip implants, which were identified through user reporting, rather than the manufacturer’s vigilance system.

Maurice Rand, from the MHRA’s Assistive Technology Centre in Blackpool described the importance of following the instructions for use and the maintenance schedules for patient hoists.

Finally, Tom Clutton-Brock highlighted the potential problems with a new, single-patient use anaesthetic vaporiser system that could lead to serious patient harm if not used in strict accordance with the instructions for use.

Philip Grohmann gave the closing remarks and summarised the day. He thanked the speakers and Liaison Officers for attending the event.

The breaks during the day were lively and provided Liaison Officers with the opportunity to network with MHRA staff, colleagues and make new connections with other Liaison Officers in their area. As in previous years, the MHRA’s website and publications were on display in an exhibition, where colleagues MHRA were available to answer queries from Liaison Officers. Also present for a third consecutive year were the Anglia Support Partnership who exhibited their Safety Alert Management Software (SAMS).

If you have any ideas for the next MHRA Liaison Officer conference, or would like to discuss any concerns you may have, we would welcome your feedback.

Additional delegate packs are available by contacting MHRA on 020 7084 3272 or by emailing dts@mhra.gsi.gov.uk. Alternatively you may download the pack and presentations below:

 


Liaison Officer conference 2007 - Reporting Matters
The sixth national Medical Device Liaison Officer Conference “Reporting Matters” took place on Friday 2 November 2007 at the Cavendish Conference Centre, London.
       
Professor Kent Woods, MHRA’s Chief Executive, gave the keynote address. He announced that the MHRA will be celebrating its fifth anniversary next year and has sent out its strategic plan for the next five years for public consultation.

Almost 200 delegates, guests and professionals from all areas of the NHS, social care and the private sector attended the conference this year.  Speakers came from the MHRA, NHS trusts, Cardiff University School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies and the National Wheelchair Managers Forum (NWMF).

For the third time we arranged for an Audience Response System to be used during the question and answer sessions.  This facilitated direct communication between the speakers and the Liaison Officers.

During the morning session, Clive Bray, MHRA Director of Device Technology & Safety, and a number of MHRA staff from the Devices Division explained how MHRA investigates adverse incident reports.  The speakers explained what happens when an incident is reported to the Adverse Incident Centre at MHRA, through to the investigation of the incident, culminating in the production and distribution of a Medical Device Alert (MDA).

The breaks during the day were lively and provided Liaison Officers with the opportunity to network with MHRA staff, colleagues and make new connections with other Liaison Officers in their area.  As in previous years, the MHRA’s website and publications were on display in an exhibition, where colleagues from different Divisions within MHRA were available to answer queries from Liaison Officers.  Also present were the Anglia Support Partnership who exhibited their Safety Alert Management Software (SAMS). SAMS organised  a prize draw for delegates.  The lucky winner received a one-year free subscription to this system.

We welcomed Roy Saunders immediately after the morning refreshment break.  Roy talked about the IT systems development within MHRA’s Adverse Incident Centre.  Susanne Ludgate, MHRA Clinical Director, gave a presentation of clinical input into adverse incident investigations.  Annette Lankshear, Director of the Graduate School at Cardiff University School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies, gave an interesting presentation on the research findings from the York Health Economic Consortium study of the Safety Alert Broadcast System.

After lunch, John Watkins, the Internal and Stakeholder Communications Manager at MHRA, talked about a programme of study that MHRA commissioned in 2006.  The study was to find out what the public and healthcare professionals think about the risk and benefits associated with medicines and medical devices.  The study identified issues concerning reporting adverse incidents, which John explained in more detail.  Tom Clutton-Brock, Senior Medical Officer at MHRA, gave a presentation.  Following Tom’s presentation there were three thought-provoking case studies.  The first case study was given by Shelley Dolan, Chief Nurse at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and also a Non-Executive Director at MHRA.  Shelley gave a short case study of a medical device error/incident in an acute hospital setting.  The second case study was given by Alan Lynch, Unit Manager of MHRA’s Assistive Technology Unit.  The case study was from an investigator’s perspective about an incident involving wheelchairs.  The third and final case study was given by Peter Gage, and was from a user’s perspective of an incident involving a wheelchair.

Philip Grohmann MHRA Group Manager, gave the closing remarks and summarised the day.  He thanked the speakers and Liaison Officers for attending the event.

If you have any ideas for the next MHRA Liaison Officer conference, or would like to discuss any concerns you may have, we would welcome your feedback.

We have a small stock of delegate packs for any Liaison Officers that were unable to attend this event. To obtain a copy please contact  us at the e-mail below

As promised here are the full set of presentation notes.

Lisa Robery & Gemma Purdon
MHRA Targeting Team
dts@mhra.gsi.gov.uk
020 7084 3297/3349

Liaison Officer conference 2006 - Managing Medical Devices: Avoiding the Problems
The fifth national Medical Device Liaison Officer Conference 'Managing Medical Devices: Avoiding the Problems' took place on Tuesday 7 November 2006 at the Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) Conference Centre Westminster, London.

Professor Kent Woods gave the keynote address. He highlighted many areas in which the MHRA has made progress over the last 12 months. Areas included Field Safety notices (FSNs), Guidance on the use of mobile phones in the proximity of medical devices, a new and improved Medical Device Alert format and the MHRA now obtain agreement with the Royal College of General Practitioners before GPs are listed as target recipients of publications. Kent also thanked Liaison Officers for the excellent work that they do on a daily basis.

Over 200 delegates, guests and professionals from all areas of the NHS, social care and the private sector attended the conference this year. Speakers came from MHRA, NHS Trusts, Primary Care Trusts and the expert Committee on the Safety of Devices.

For a second year we arranged for the Audience Response System to be used during the question and answer sessions. This facilitated direct communication between the speakers and the Liaison Officers and was endorsed by delegates as having added significant value to the event. One of the questions asked was, “If MHRA were to charge you for attending future Liaison Officer Conferences how much would you be willing to pay?" 48% of delegates stated that they would only attend if the event was free while 44% would be prepared to pay up to £100.

During the morning session Clive Bray, Director of Device Technology & Safety (DTS), talked about pre existing publications on Medical Device Management. He announced that new guidance on this subject had just been issued in DB2006(05) which supersedes all previous publications on the same subject, including DB9801.

A presentation was also given by Alun Tomkinson, a Consultant Otolaryngologist from the Wales University Hospital, on 'Using Medical Devices Safely'.

The breaks during the day were lively and provided Liaison Officers with the opportunity to network with colleagues and MHRA staff, and make new connections with other Liaison Officers in their area.
The various exhibition stands on display throughout the day included the DH Patient Safety team and Anglia Support Partnership who exhibited their Safety Alert Management Software (SAMS).

Our Adverse Incident Centre demonstrated online reporting for medical devices and the Yellow Card Scheme for reporting adverse drug reactions was exhibited by Pharmacovigilance. As in previous years, Monica Ponte promoted MHRA publications and Karen Morgan was on hand to demonstrate our website.

Following requests at the Liaison Officer Focus Group in March 2006, we welcomed Tom Clutton-Brock after the morning refreshment break. Tom gave an update on the education programme for device users, the 'Medical Device Driving Licence', which was launched at last year’s conference.

Robert Moutter, manager at Gateshead Equipment Services, talked about managing medical devices in the community and how he achieves best practice. Andy Smith, one of our Liaison Officers and Head of Clinical Engineering at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, gave a talk on managing medical devices in an acute trust setting.

After lunch Alan Lynch, Head of MHRA Centre for Assistive Technology (AT) talked about AT devices in the community. John Perrins, Consultant Cardiologist and member of the Committee of Safety of Devices, gave an interesting presentation on two cardiology case studies. The first case study was about an angioplasty balloon which gets stuck inside a heart artery. The second case study focused on a pacemaker lead which stabbed a patient through the heart. Tony Sant discussed adverse incident reporting and the launch of the Field Safety Notices (FSN) facilities. Chris Markham summarised the day and gave a brief history on where Liaison Officers originated.

When Chris joined the MHRA he developed the Liaison Officer network, Focus Group and Conference. He recently retired from his post as Group Business Manager in the DTS Division.

Lisa Robery
Targeting and Project Manager
020 7084 3297

Gemma Purdon
Targeting and Project Officer
020 7084 3349

Presentations available:

 


Page last modified: 02 March 2006