Engineer News Network The ultimate online news and information resource for today’s engineer
The UK’s medical industry is being overwhelmed by market uncertainty, cost restraints and technological advancement. This is the worrying diagnosis according to a new medical technology (MedTech) industry whitepaper by power quality specialist REO UK.
A whitepaper, which is available to download from the company’s website, analyses the state of the industry and suggests that engineering will be key to overcoming these challenges.
In particular, REO UK suggests that design and electrical engineers in the MedTech and healthcare industries are pivotal to ensuring safety as modern hospitals become more technologically advanced.
The company says that power quality issues created by new devices and equipment can be mitigated by improved electrical infrastructure and even prevented by using more efficient components during device design.
The whitepaper explores in detail the ways that engineers can ensure this in their projects.
“The UK healthcare industry is in a transformative period,” explained Steve Hughes, managing director of REO UK. “There are many external pressures, such as budgetary constraints and growing service demand from an ageing population, that are forcing the sector to adopt new MedTech quicker in the hopes of easing the strain on the industry.
“These technologies present a wealth of new possibilities for the sector, but bring with them the challenges of equipment safety, power quality and system continuity.
“These can only be safely overcome with the expertise of design and electrical engineers, as well as power quality specialists.
“For example, electrical engineers can reduce the problems faced by existing systems by installing effective electrical equipment such as network isolators. These provide effective electrical isolation of devices in copper wire-bound ethernet networks and protect both equipment and people from the impact of electrical voltage spikes.”
Engineering expertise
The whitepaper suggests that engineering expertise will be the cornerstone of a successful future for UK healthcare in light of tightening budgets.
While new technologies will ultimately provide a solution to many of the industry’s problems, engineers are necessary to ensure the equipment and power networks can facilitate these solutions.
The white paper is available for download HERE.
