ABSTRACT
The new programme for evaluation of electromedical equipment is being carried out in four existing NHS centres which are experienced in the testing of medical equipment, each for a specific category of equipment. In 1973, a senior civil servant at DHSS said in a speech that there were nearly 2,000 firms and 17 trade associations in the ‘medical supplies industry’ in Britain, plus a number of architectural and engineering consortia concerned with health services. In 1976 DHSS launched a sudden initiative to accelerate the growth of exports and established an internal working party under the chairmanship of A. J. Collier. The recommendations focused on the need to compile a ‘limited list’ of medical and scientific equipment that would be based on the careful testing and evaluation of available products. The delay and varied initiatives seem to reflect political intervention into a situation that at the official level appears to work well.
