Evaluation of Medical Devices in Scotland (MDIS) and appraisal of future operations: final report

Medical devices in Scotland (MDIS), a membership based company, aimed to stimulate and promote the medical devices sector in Scotland. It aimed to: promote Scotland globally as a growing region for medical devices; understand the needs of existing medical devices companies in Scotland; understand the research capabilities with the academic and NHS units; and assist entrepreneurs with new device ideas to develop their product and business in Scotland. The evaluation aimed to: assess MDIS and provide an appraisal of the future operation of MDIS. This section (I) of the evaluation provided an evaluation of MDIS for the period April 2004 - March 2005. (Sections II and II provided an appraisal of the future operation of MDIS, and next steps to be taken.)

The methodology consisted of: a review of Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire’s (SEL) contract including agreed objectives, tasks, performance measures and targets; an interview with the Chief Executive of MDIS; a review of MDIS performance and activity reports and information; a review of previous reviews and evaluation of MDIS; and analysis of performance information provided.

MDIS have met most but not all of their targets set by SEL. It has performed well on the provision of events, communications with members, international / domestic missions and exhibitions, and handling general business enquiries and information. It has not met its membership and income targets, the development and implementation of advisory panels and an annual report. The absence of robust output performance information from MDIS has made it impossible to estimate the outputs and impacts of MDIS’s activity. Concludes that with the existing level, structure and focus of resources, MDIS has not been able to meet their objectives.

Recommends that improved monitoring and reporting systems are introduced to MDIS as a matter of priority, by establishing a new relational database system.