Special Issue: Device Evaluation Service for UK medical equipment

Abstract

I am delighted to present this special issue which exemplifies the scientific and user centred approach of the UK Device Evaluation Service (DES) which has provided a specialist resource for the UK National Health Service and social care organisations for over a quarter of a century. Reports by evaluation centre staff are published by the Department of Health for direct distribution to staff in UK health care or social care organisations and are now also published on the internet (www.mhra.gov.uk). This special issue has provided evaluation staff the opportunity to demonstrate their scientific understanding of device function and the specialist techniques developed for assessing user issues which strengthen the impartiality of their published evaluation reports. When this special issue was envisaged I had no idea how recent political events within the UK Department of Health would make its publication so timely. Consequently this special issue starts with an overview of DES which, for nearly 30 years, has been working to produce impartial comparative information on a range of medical devices. It traces the development of the service and outlines the future challenges for the development of DES over the next decade. This special issue focuses on those device evaluation centres (DECs) specialising in general medical devices and assistive devices since other journals are better suited for publications from the diagnostic imaging and pathology DECs. A sound scientific understanding of the function and performance of medical equipment, possessed by DEC staff, is clearly revealed in both the study of blood pressure devices and simulators and the experimental investigation into the clinical impact of bubbles within infusion systems. The key issue for centres evaluating assistive devices is their utility for users with a wide and complex range of disabilities. These centres have developed robust techniques for assessing ergonomic aspects of equipment use, as illustrated in the assessment of text telephones and