We all take for granted that equipment in hospitals will be kept in perfect order, yet as patients it plays a vital part in our care.

Making sure equipment is serviced and maintained, and fixing or replacing it when broken, is essential.

But those who do this tend to work behind the scenes - one of the reasons why the country's hospitals are apparently facing a shortage of technical physicians.

Health care tends to be focused on front line staff - doctors, nurses and the many others who make up the medical profession - but what about the back room staff who are working in equally interesting and important roles? People such as Chris Callicott.

Chris and his colleagues who work within the technical realms of medical physics and clinical engineering are in danger of becoming a minority in the health profession.

As head of medical physics at Bradford Royal Infirmary, Chris is conscious the apparent national shortage of students studying physics will impact on the NHS. He's already seeing evidence of it.

"We have difficulty filling posts because there is a national shortage. That has big implications for the health service because it means equipment may not be looked after as well as it should be and may not always be able to deliver the service as well as we like," says Chris.

His rather technical and often complex profession involves looking after the vital equipment his colleagues rely on to deliver the best quality medical care. For example, imaging equipment for diagnosis or machines medics rely on to care for patients before, during and after surgery.

"We couldn't deliver general medical care without a lot of the technology," says Chris. "There's an awful lot of medicine that does rely on technology."

Medical physics and, in its wider form, clinical engineering, is an essential part of the NHS, yet because it's not so high profile as the work of frontline staff - doctors and nurses - people tend not to give it a thought.

"We're probably not good at waving our own flag!" Chris laughs. "We aren't high profile. There may be 4,000 or 5,000 of us across the country, so it's a small group."

Chris always intended pursuing a career in medicine but admits being let down by his A-levels. A gap year getting work experience in a medical laboratory persuaded him to pursue a physics degree and gave him skills he's now putting into practice.

He believes his work experience played an important part in him getting his foot on the career ladder as a junior physician at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. During his 20 years there he worked on many high profile research projects, designing instrumentation such as pace makers and imaging equipment.

"I haven't made the world spin in the opposite direction but they are things I find gratifying," says Chris.

He then spent four years as head of clinical engineering at Nottingham City Hospital, working on extensive research projects such as video phones for long-distance patients on dialysis. His next job was a similar role in a bigger department at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, and two years ago he arrived in Bradford.

"This is a very clinical department compared with some. It's very patient-centred and I like that - I think it is what we're about. We may be experts on technology and looking after machines rather than patients, but it is all about patient care in the end."

He has this advice for anyone wanting to enter his profession: "If you like sciences and want to apply it to something you think is worthwhile, then I reckon it's not a bad idea.

"For me it's about using science and technology to help patients, whether it's to diagnose and find out what is wrong by imaging them or to make sure the equipment that monitors them is safe and working properly. It's helping nurses and medics to deliver the best possible health care."

  • For more information about a career in medical physics, call Bradford University on (01274) 232323.