Your Guide to Healthcare Asset Management

CQC Regulation 15 requires healthcare providers to demonstrate that equipment is suitable, properly maintained, and safe. Asset management software creates and maintains the evidence base for this demonstration: a complete asset register, maintenance schedules with completion records, inspection logs, and real-time dashboards showing compliance status. During an inspection, this evidence is immediately available on demand, eliminating the need to compile records under pressure. The case of Sirona Care and Health illustrates the practical outcome: by implementing a digital asset management system, the organisation was able to demonstrate systematic control to CQC inspectors via on-demand reports.

The common tagging methods for asset tracking include Barcode, QR Code, RFID, NFC and increasingly Bluetooth (BLE) and GPS. For active tracking you will also need antennae and hardware.

Read more about asset tagging here. 

RTLS stands for Real-Time Location System. In a hospital environment, it uses wireless infrastructure (Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth beacons, or Ultra-Wideband sensors) and small tags attached to equipment to show the location of every tagged asset on a digital floor plan in real time. Clinical staff can find portable equipment in seconds rather than spending significant time searching. For high-value portable equipment portfolios, RTLS also improves asset utilisation rates, performance data, reduces unnecessary re-purchasing, and supports security monitoring for assets that should not leave designated areas.

Physical Asset Management (PAM) is a systematic and strategic approach to overseeing a company’s tangible assets, such as machinery, equipment, vehicles, infrastructure, and land, throughout their entire lifecycle. Learn more in our comprehensive guide.

Assettrac customises every implementation for its clients and typical deployment can take as little as 30-days for a single-site deployment.  The timeline will 

For multi-site NHS Trusts, a phased approach is generally recommended, allowing each site to go live sequentially while maintaining operational continuity. The timeline for a phased multi-site deployment depends on the size of the asset portfolio and the availability of the organisation’s teams for training and system acceptance testing. Assettrac’s end-to-end service model (which includes consultancy, on-site asset auditing and tagging and training by the Assettrac team) removes the need for clinical and facilities staff to conduct the initial audit themselves, which significantly accelerates deployment.

Healthcare asset management is the process of tracking, maintaining, auditing, and optimising all physical assets within a healthcare environment and where relevant, between the healthcare organisation and its suppliers. This covers the full scope of assets that a healthcare organisation owns or is responsible for: medical devices, clinical equipment, medical research and records, estates and facilities infrastructure, portable and high-value equipment, clinical consumables, vehicles, and clinical waste streams.

Healthcare is one of the most heavily regulated sectors for physical asset management. The frameworks below set the compliance context within which healthcare asset management software must operate.

CQC Regulation 15 — Premises and Equipment

The Care Quality Commission’s Regulation 15 requires registered providers to ensure that premises and equipment are clean, secure, suitable, used properly, maintained, and where applicable, available in sufficient quantities. Proving compliance requires documentary evidence. Healthcare asset management software that maintains complete, time-stamped records of maintenance activity, inspection outcomes, and equipment condition and age gives organisations the evidence base they need to demonstrate Regulation 15 compliance on demand.

MHRA Medical Device Regulations

The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency sets out requirements for the traceability and maintenance of medical devices used in clinical settings. This includes maintaining records of device identity, maintenance history, and any incidents or near misses. A comprehensive asset register with full maintenance history enables the traceability that MHRA compliance requires.

NHS ERIC Reporting

The Estates Returns Information Collection is an annual data collection exercise carried out by NHS England Digital, requiring NHS organisations to report on the condition, cost, and performance of their estates and facilities. Accurate asset data is the foundation of a credible ERIC return. Organisations without a reliable digital asset register often struggle to produce ERIC data that reflects the true state of their estate.

HTM — Health Technical Memoranda

Health Technical Memoranda set out standards for the management of specific categories of healthcare equipment, including medical gases, ventilation systems, fire safety equipment, and decontamination facilities. Compliance with the relevant HTM for each asset category requires documented maintenance schedules and service records; exactly the kind of information that a PPM-enabled asset management system is designed to maintain.

DSPT — Data Security and Protection Toolkit

For healthcare organisations, any software system that handles patient-related or organisational data must meet the requirements of the Data Security and Protection Toolkit. Assettrac’s software security credentials, including data encryption, access controls, and audit logging, support DSPT compliance. See assettrac.co.uk/software-security

COSHH and Clinical Waste Duty of Care

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations, combined with the Environmental Protection Act’s duty of care provisions, require organisations that generate clinical waste to maintain documented evidence of how that waste is managed from point of generation to licensed disposal. Digital waste tracking closes the gaps that manual systems leave open.

Asset management software that is purpose-configured for healthcare does not simply help organisations pass inspections. It makes compliance a natural byproduct of daily operations, removing the need for last-minute evidence gathering when an inspection is announced.

ensure they are in line with professional and regulatory standards such as ISO 55000 (the international standard for asset management), NHS ERIC reporting requirements, CQC Regulation 15 (relating to premises and equipment), HTM (Health Technical Memoranda) for specific equipment categories, and MHRA guidance on medical device traceability. Content