'Electronics and medicine': comments on a discussion paper prepared for the UK National Electronics Council

Abstract

At the end of 1981 a small working party prepared the above discussion paper for the National Electronics Council [1]. The Council dates from 1964 and is a registered charity which receives funding from the electronics industry and from the Department of Industry, and aims to promote the social uses of electronics. The working party addressed itself to an appraisal of the current state of medical electronics in the United Kingdom, with particular reference to the impact of micro-electronics. It attempted a diagnosis of a diseased medical electronics industry and also suggested a positive therapeutic regime. However, the report includes the comment that ‘Too much emphasis has been placed on diagnostic instrumentation; greater attention to therapeutic or supportive devices is now appropriate'; this may also be a valid observation on the report.