MPCE teams are the quiet custodians of patient safety, write IPEM Chief Executive Gill Collinson and Member Trustee, Matthew Dunn
In Professor Sue Kingdon’s Review of Children’s Hearing Services the report many serious failings in paediatric audiology services which have been left fragmented, poorly governed and undervalued for years. Within the report is a key message which should resonate with almost every technical and scientific service in healthcare. “The audiology workforce has been neglected for years. Their status and profile is low. There is little professional governance and fragmented professional representation. There is a lack of coherent workforce planning and little investment in research.”
This is a sobering reflection but one that could be written about many of the hidden professions that keep the NHS running. Behind the wards and waiting rooms are thousands of scientists, engineers and technologists who design, test, maintain and calibrate the technology that underpins modern healthcare. They are the quiet custodians of patient safety.
These are the members of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) and their work spans everything from radiotherapy and MRI to neonatal monitoring, surgical robotics and prosthetics. Unseen, essential, and under pressure.
If you’ve ever had a scan, an X-ray, or a pacemaker fitted, chances are an IPEM member played a key role in ensuring that equipment was safe, accurate and effective. They are the bridge between science and patient care.
Yet their visibility in the system remains low. Clinical engineers, medical physicists and technologists often work behind the scenes, their work measured in avoided incidents rather than headlines.
The Kingdon Review’s message is clear. Services that “attract little attention, investment or scrutiny” are the ones most at risk of failure. That is true of audiology today and could be true of medical physics, clinical engineering or diagnostic technology tomorrow.
To stop that, we must invest in workforce data, training and research, so that we plan for the future. The NHS cannot function without science, engineering and technology yet the people who make it all work remain largely invisible. MPCE colleagues should be in leadership positions across local, regional and national levels. The Kingdon Review is a warning. When a profession loses visibility, it loses investment, oversight and, eventually, public confidence.
Gill Collinson CEng MIET, IPEM Chief Executive and Mr Matthew Dunn MIPEM CSci, IPEM Member Trustee