Purchase new suction machines
My role, as clinical equipment nurse specialist for Salford Primary Care Trust, is to provide clinical support to multidisciplinary health- and social-care professionals across Salford. This involves focusing on the evaluation of clinical equipment to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practice. I also act as a liaison between the supplies department and the community equipment loans store, which is jointly funded by the NHS and social services.
For too long services have been fragmented, underfunded and unresponsive. The NHS Plan (DH, 2000) and National Service Framework for Older People (DH, 2001) set out several key targets, including the requirement to modernise service delivery, combining health and social care provision into single, integrated community equipment services by 2004. Integrating Community Equipment Services (ICES) is a Department of Health-funded health and social care initiative to develop community equipment services in the UK. Its aim is to support the modernisation and integration of services, and remove barriers for equipment users.
I was employed in February 2004, and quickly found that the trust needed to purchase new suction machines. A review of the existing stock revealed that many were old, awaiting repair and difficult to move. Fortunately, Salford PCT has an annual budget of £5000 (funded by the NHS) for suction machines. Because I had joined in February, we had just seven weeks to review, evaluate and purchase the machines before the end of the financial year.