Meet the team who work behind the scenes at hospital (From Warrington Guardian)

Meet the team who work behind the scenes at Warrington Hospital

3:10pm Friday 10th August 2012 in News

WALKING through the corridors of Warrington Hospital most patients will never notice Steve Copple and his team of seven medical engineers.

But when equipment develops faults or breaks down they have to move fast to get it fixed.

Charged with looking after more than 10,000 pieces of vital, life-saving equipment, the team is a vital cog at the hospital.

Steve says the role has changed a lot since he started in 1979.

The 62-year-old medical engineering manager said: “Most people’s perceptions of a hospital are gained from watching programmes like Casualty or 24 Hours in A&E.

“There’s a lot of equipment in hospitals these days and you don’t see us on TV supporting the clinicians and making sure everything works properly.

“As with all modern technology, things do occasionally break down so we are here to make sure it’s back in action quickly.”

The majority of calls for help tend to come from the busiest departments in the hospital including the critical care department, theatres and A&E.

Steve, who lives in St Helens, started the engineering department more than 30 years ago with an ECG machine, a defibrillator the size of a printer and a few ventilators as opposed to today’s ‘ever increasing and terrific amount of equipment’.

The dad-of-two, who has a degree in electronic engineering, said: “It’s not difficult keeping up with new technology, it’s just part of the interest of the job and we all work together as a team.

“There is a lot of team spirit in the hospital and staff are always very friendly, it’s like a big community.

“Sometimes it’s not the big flashy machines that make the biggest difference but small machines like positive airway pressure machines which have been helping a lot of patients recently with sleep apnea.”