Managing the threat of transferable diseases and cross contamination key drivers

LONDON, 29 May 2007 – GS1 UK, the independent supply chain data standards body, has announced that six hospitals have signed up to its “scan and save” initiative to automatically track and trace their sterile surgical instruments. The threat from transferable diseases, such as MRSA, CJD, and cross contamination of surgical instruments as well as major safety concerns raised by the Patients Association have been the main drivers for the hospitals to sign up to the initiative.

The initiative was launched in March following a policy document presented by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Minister of State for Quality at the Department of Health. The document issued guidance for the use of automatic identification and data capture technologies, such as bar codes, across the NHS using the GS1 System.

The automatic identification enabled by bar codes allows hospitals to trace the complete product life cycle, including the verification of the decontamination and sterilisation process, and determine for which operation the instruments were used.
Six NHS hospitals in England have already registered to apply the GS1 System of standards to accurately track and trace their sterile surgical instrument. The GS1 standards and guidelines for this application have been developed in association with the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

“Having properly decontaminated and sterile surgical instruments for an operation is an obvious requirement, but the bar code tracking is essential to allow tracebility from one patient to another in the unlikely event of a recall procedure. It also allows historical information to be built up on individual instrumentation. “Rescheduling operations due to missing or unsatisfactory surgical instruments not only presents a potential threat to the patient due to be treated, but it has a much wider impact both on the smooth running of a hospital department and the budget,” said Caroline Robinson, Customer Contract Manager, North West Sterile Service Collaboration.

“Saving lives and money are two benefits which the NHS quite literally cannot afford to ignore. It is encouraging to see this level of interest so early on in the initiative, and we look forward to providing support to the hospitals involved to ensure they reap the full rewards,” said Gary Lynch, Chief Executive of GS1 UK. “We urge hospitals across the UK to sign up to the ‘scan and save’ initiative and improve patient safety.”

To raise the momentum of the ‘scan and save’ initiative, GS1 UK will be running a conference on 5 July 2007 at the City of Manchester Stadium which will include a session on healthcare and a specialised workshop on surgical instrument traceability. The conference and workshop will feature high-level speakers within the healthcare sector including NHS Connecting for Health, National Decontamination Programme and the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The specialised workshop will aim to clarify the use of standards in surgical instrument management systems being implemented in the UK.

Notes to Editors:
The hospitals signed up to the sterile surgical instrument tracking programme include:

1. Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester
2. Derby Hosp NHS Foundation Trust
3. Halton Hospital, Runcorn
4. Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust, Manchester
5. University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
6. Warrington Hospital

About GS1 UK

GS1 UK has driven innovation in the supply chain for over thirty years. It is part of the global GS1 organisation, dedicated to the development and implementation of global data standards and solutions for the supply chain. GS1 standards are the most widely used in the world. GS1 UK helps industry to implement these data standards through the use of bar codes, RFID, Global Data Synchronisation (GDS) and electronic business messaging.
www.gs1uk.org

For more information contact:

Lisa Henshaw or Kirsty Sewter
Fourth Day PR
+44 (0)20 7403 4411

Tom Beston
GS1 UK
+44 (0)20 7655 9000

Book mark with this

Delicious      reddit      Digg      Stumbleupon