KCARE Report for CRAG's Meeting

18th November 2004

Ergonomist Appointed

At last we have appointed an ergonomist to the KCARE team. David Annett is due to start on the 6th of December and will be working on quantifying the manual handling aspects of the user evaluation.

MHRA Strategic Review of the Evaluation Service

The strategic review of the Device Evaluation Service (DES) was completed in August but the report was held back until the HITF (Healthcare Industries Task Force) report was ready. The results of both reports were announced on the 17th of November. The main recommendations that affect KCARE are that the Device Evaluation Service (DES) is to be enhanced and moved to NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) on the 1st of April 2005. The DES is to be restructured into four Device Evaluation Groups (DEGs): Imaging, Pathology, General Medicine and Assistive Technology. The report also recommends additional funding of £1.7 million, the removal of liability to pay VAT, the reports should be placed on the world-wide-web and made free to all.

KCARE 25th Anniversary

KCARE celebrated 25 years of Expert Advice on the 12th of November. Guests of note included many current and previous Heads of Department, Executive board members of King's College Hospital and our fund holders, MHRA (an Executive Agency of the Department of Health). Also present were dignitaries including the Chief Executive of MHRA, Professor Kent Woods and the Chief Executive of King's Healthcare NHS Trust, Mr. Malcolm Lowe-Lauri and the head of the DES Ms Sue Wilkin.

KCARE Reports

The third edition of the Comparative Specifications of Single Plane Cardiovascular Imaging Systems should be printed in February 2005 and the fourth edition of the Cardiovascular Imaging Systems A Comparative Report ready by April 2005.

SafeSpecs

The latest version of SafeSpecs (Version 2.0) allowing direct selection of the equipment required was launched with a new password on the 1st October 2004. Please contact KCARE to register for a new password.

CR and DR Quality Assurance Workshops
KCARE held the sixth QA study day on 27th October 2004. This was attended by radiographers, medical physicists, engineers and company representatives.
The workshop are a combination of lectures and practicals. The next course date is 27th April 2005.

A more advanced Digital X-ray Imaging and Technology study day is to be held on the 7th of February. For further information please contact Alistair Mackenzie on 020 7346 1625, or email info@kcare.co.uk