At EBME Expo, the role of Authorising Engineer (Medical Devices) was announced - a strategic imperative that aims to enhance patient safety and organisational resilience within NHS Trusts.
The concept of an Authorising Engineer (AE) is firmly established in other high-risk domains within healthcare infrastructure, such as medical gas and decontamination, where independent experts provide essential assurance of compliance and safety. The Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management AE (MD) role extends this critical independent oversight to the highly complex and rapidly evolving domain of medical devices.
According to EBME Expo chair, Prof. John Sandham CEng FIHEEM, this independence is paramount because internal audit functions, while valuable, can sometimes be constrained by organisational politics, resource limitations, or inherent biases stemming from familiarity with existing practices.
Prof. John Sandham pointed out that the AE (MD)'s external validation transcends a mere compliance check; it can be "profoundly innovative", fostering benchmarking against leading practices and introducing advanced solutions for risk mitigation and efficiency that may not be apparent from within the Trust’s immediate operational context. Such an independent role is “key to unlocking new paradigms for policy and practice,” he argued. An in-depth article on the new role will appear in the August edition of CSJ.
In an exclusive interview with CSJ’s editor, at EBME Expo 2025, Prof. John Sandham likened the AE (MD) to a "critical friend" who can "give advice on how to improve."
The EBME Expo 2025 took place at the Coventry Building Society Arena on 25–26 June and featured a powerful new focus: the critical intersection of future-facing healthcare solutions and real-world battlefield medicine. The event has increased in size, year-on-year, attracting 50% more delegate registrations in 2025 compared to the previous year.
In this exclusive video interview, Prof. John Sandham discusses the highlights of the 2025 show, the new Authorising Engineer role, challenges around connectivity, and how procurement is changing.
