NHS to save millions and improve patient safety

Patient safety could be improved if hospitals tagged people with barcodes, Minister for Quality, Lord Hunt, announced today.

By wearing a bar-coded wristband, a bar code reader can be used to verify the patient’s identity at any time. At present errors cost the NHS around £2 billion per year because people are forced to stay in hospital longer. The government believe the new scheme of auto-identification could make a significant impact on these costs.

In his report he said: “Patient safety is my top priority and this document sets out a clear case for the use of AIDC technology by industry and the NHS in order to save lives, reduce mistakes and improve efficiency.

“The work of Birmingham Heartlands is a fine example of how technology can reduce patient mistakes and waiting times for operations and free up staff to spend more time on the wards with patients.”

The scheme has already been introduced at Heartlands, and the use of radiofrequency identification tags in a day surgery unit has improved efficiency so that an extra minor or intermediate procedure can be done on each list - which could save the Trust £270,000 per year.

In his report, Coding for Success, Lord Hunt has recommended that both industry and the NHS should use the GS1 system for coding, and he also revealed that GS1UK will be providing membership and support to NHS organisations who wish to be involved.

David Morgan, Consultant Surgeon at Heart of England NHS Trust, and pioneer of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), said: “We have been using an RFID wristband tagging system to identify patients in the Day Case Surgery Unit at Heart of England NHS Trust for the last two years. Since using the system the staff have been able to spend more time with the patients due to less paperwork and patient safety has greatly increased.”

He also praised the scheme as a success, claiming theatres can run more efficiently and the accuracy of coding has increased to almost 100 per cent.

(JM)