WMS celebrates its 10,000th test and calibration visit

Released 07/05/2010

Williams Medical Supplies has now completed its 10,000th test and calibration visit in primary care, with almost 400,000 pieces of equipment given the seal of approval.

Practice Nurse Wendy King, of the Staunton & Corse surgery in Gloucestershire, was presented with a luxury hamper to celebrate the milestone.

The practice has 6,500 patients and has been in the village for 100 years, covering a wide rural area of the surrounding population. It has been using WMS’s test and calibration service since 2007, when they realised technicians can test every piece of equipment on site in just one day.

Previously, practices had to send away medical equipment for its annual calibration and they were keen to reduce disruption to their daily routine. So the WMS service was set up in response to that demand in 2006.

“We used to have to send our equipment away individually to be calibrated which caused lots of disruption,” said Practice Nurse Wendy King. “We’re a busy practice so it’s great to have all our equipment tested on site in one go and the WMS technicians are very good at working alongside us.

“It’s reassuring for the staff to know we are accurate in all our readings and also for patients to know we’re using exact measurements. It just gives us the confidence that our recordings are accurate. The WMS team provides an excellent service.”

WMS has developed a unique calibration system that removes the possibility of human error taking place. The system knows the individual calibration points for each piece of equipment and records it in a database, which the customer gets as a printed certificate pack, which is legible (not hand-written) and fully traceable by serial number for each piece of equipment.

The most commonly tested equipment are blood pressure monitors, medical scales and nebulisers, ECG monitors, pharmaceutical fridges and thermometers.

Practice Manager Iain Collinson said: “We always ensure test and calibration is done professionally because it is so important, we’ve got a great relationship with WMS over many years and we are very happy with the service they provide.”

Technician Andrew Jones has been with WMS for 10 years and is one of a growing team of 18 field engineers involved in test and calibration. They have all completed six weeks of intensive training and stay up-to-date with manufacturers’ updates.

He said: “It is important we are here to check the equipment, it has to be calibrated correctly and we use the most up-to-date digital pressure monitoring device to do this.

“We get a good reaction from practices because we keep them informed every step of the way and provide instant certificates for individual pieces of equipment before we leave that day, which gives them great peace of mind.”

Steve Dunn, CEO at WMS, said a number of test and calibration companies are operating without the necessary training, knowledge or specialised test equipment.

“We have found numerous instances of bad practice that are endangering lives and the practice managers, practice nurses and GPs can be held accountable, should incorrect calibration lead to a patient problem,” he said.

“Practices should carefully consider how they select their equipment calibration company, looking into its history, track record and, most importantly, accountability for its working standards on the annual safety checks.”

For more information about Williams Medical Supplies Ltd visit www.wms.co.uk

Return to news

Discuss this in our forum