Midland Metropolitan Service Agreement with Medaco

Restoring Equipment Flow and Improving Clinical Efficiency at Midland Met Hospital

At Midland Met Hospital, equipment availability isn’t just a logistical concern it directly impacts patient flow, bed capacity, and staff efficiency. When essential equipment like specialist hospital beds, hoists, stretchers and ITU beds are unavailable due to breakdowns or delayed repairs, the ripple effects are felt across wards, theatres, and clinical teams.

By the time Medaco became involved, the Trust was facing a growing backlog of out-of-service equipment that was clogging corridors, filling basement storage areas, and slowing down patient admissions. Working alongside Equans, Medaco was brought in to stabilise and restructure the asset maintenance process, ensuring that critical equipment could be repaired, returned to use, and kept operational with minimal downtime.

A Growing Backlog and Reduced Patient Flow

When Medaco’s Business Development Manager, Garth, was first made aware of the contract, the Trust had already been struggling for some time. Broken beds and medical equipment were being stored in corridor and loading bay areas simply because the service workflow was unable to keep up.

“They had equipment that needed repairing faster than the system allowed. The backlog was physically visible in corridors. It was slowing patient movement and blocking operational space.”

The issue wasn’t just volume it was time. Equipment was being taken out of circulation faster than it was being returned, and delays were compounding across wards.

To prevent the situation worsening before the contract formally began, the Trust asked Medaco to deploy engineers immediately to begin clearing high-priority equipment.

Understanding the Operating Environment

Once on-site, Medaco engineers needed to:

• Assess the condition of each asset

• Prioritise high-impact equipment (e.g., beds and hoists needed that day on wards)

• Repair and return equipment to circulation quickly

• Streamline communication between clinical leads and estates/maintenance

This initial phase wasn’t just about repairs it was about re-establishing flow.

Building a Service Structure That Works in a Real Clinical Environment

Once the backlog reduction work began, Medaco needed to ensure that repairs would continue to happen quickly and consistently. Senior Engineer, Dilip Sohal, designed a service model around responsiveness and practical efficiency.

The key to this was enabling engineers to fix equipment immediately, without waiting for multiple layers of approval. To support this, Medaco worked with the Trust to agree on spare parts access and thresholds so that repairs could happen on-the-spot whenever possible.

This reduced delays, reduced administrative burdens, and kept equipment in circulation.

Alongside reactive repairs, scheduled preventative servicing was introduced to minimise the likelihood of equipment repeatedly failing, gradually shifting the environment from firefighting to planned maintenance.

Ensuring the Right Engineers for the Right Equipment

Midland Met has a wide range of equipment from multiple manufacturers, each requiring different technical training. Medaco deployed engineers who were already fully trained and experienced with the specific hospital equipment found on site. This included:

✓ Profiling and acute beds such as Arjo Enterprise, Hillrom Accela and Sidhil Innov8 models

✓ Specialist maternity beds including the Hillrom Affinity range

✓ Hoists and lifting systems from Golvo, Liko, and Oxford

✓ Stretchers and trolleys manufactured by Arjo and Stryker

✓ High-dependency ICU and ITU bed systems used in critical care environments

Matching engineers to equipment expertise meant repairs were completed right the first time and avoided unnecessary call-outs to original manufacturers.

‘Here at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, Medaco service and maintain all of our equipment efficiently across the 4 main hospital sites and the community services too.

For the Anetic Aid equipment Medaco provide us with a detailed list of any spares required which we purchase directly, and Medaco carry out the repairs as necessary. This process has been very smooth and with no issues on Anetic Aid supplying us. A typical turn around on this process is around 10 days.

I would be very happy to recommend Medaco as a service provider’

Solving the Spare Parts Barrier

Some manufacturers do not supply spare parts directly to third-party maintenance providers. Previously, this caused long repair delays.

Medaco worked with the Trust to create a straightforward and efficient solution. For equipment where parts could not be ordered externally, the Trust would purchase the parts directly. Once received, Medaco engineers would fit and commission them immediately.

This simple collaborative adjustment reduced equipment downtime from weeks to days.

Scaling Resources Based on Real Demand

Originally, the maintenance model assumed one full-time engineer would be sufficient. But after reviewing workload data from the first phase of the project, Medaco recommended adding a second dedicated engineer to maintain throughput and prevent future backlog.

The Trust approved the resource expansion — a key decision that ensured the progress achieved would be sustained long-term.

The Impact

Since implementing the new service structure, Midland Met has experienced:

• A significant reduction in out-of-service equipment

• Faster turnaround times for repairs

• Clear and accessible ward spaces with reduced corridor equipment storage

• Increased reliability of critical equipment in daily use

• Greater confidence among staff that equipment will be available when needed

Most importantly, clinical teams are now able to focus on delivering care rather than managing equipment shortages or delays.

A Collaborative Approach That Strengthens Clinical Operations

This project demonstrates how partnership, technical capability, and service structure can transform equipment availability in large clinical environments. By understanding the operational realities on the ground and implementing a responsive, transparent servicing model, Medaco has helped Midland Met:

✓ Maintain safe and reliable equipment at scale

✓ Prevent backlogs from reoccurring

✓ Support clinical teams in delivering seamless patient care