2.1.2 Medical electrical equipment Electrical equipment, provided with not more than one connection to particular supply mains and intended to diagnose, treat or monitor the patient under medical supervision and wich makes physical or electrical contact with the pa- tient, and/or transfers energy to or fromthe pa tient, and/or detects such energy transfer to or from the patient. The equipment includes those accessories defined by the manufactureras being necessary to enable normal use of the equipment. ‘The power supply can also be obtained by means of an internal electrical source. Medical eectrical equipment can be categorised as class |or class I depending on their degree of insulation. in lass | devices, protection against indirect contact is guarantecd by connection te a cafety conductor (Fig. 2.2.a), while class Il protection is intrinsic in that itis provided by double insulation orrein- forced insulation (Fig. 2.2.5). 2.1.3 Medical electrical system Combination of items of equipment, at least one of which fs an item of medical electrical equip~ ‘ment and inter-connected by functional connec tion or use of a multiple portable socket outlet. The system includes those accessories wnich are needed for operating the system and arespeci- fied by the manufacturer. Medical electrical systems are groups of multiple electromedical devices or of electromedical de- vices with other non-electromedical devizes, con- nected electrically both for the transfer ef data or signals, and through their power supply. One example could be a device that monitors the physiological parameters of a patient and trans- fers the corresponding data to another piece of ‘equipment which in turn processes them in order to provide information useful for diagnosis.