"Scan and Save" policy to save lives and money

London - 16 February 2007 - Bar coding technology, adhering to international standards administered by GS1 UK is recommended for implementation throughout the NHS in England. Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, minister of state for quality at the Department of Health, launched a policy document this week issuing guidance for the use of auto-identification and data capture technologies such as bar codes across the NHS. He recommended that in order to reap the benefits of such technologies, both industry and the NHS should use the GS1 system of coding.

GS1 is an independent global standards body which provides its members with an international system of unique identification numbering, already used widely in the pharmaceutical, retail and supply chains sectors. These numbers are generally applied via bar codes and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. GS1 UK will be providing its unique numbering systems and support to all NHS organisations.

The NHS will benefit in a number of areas from standardised automated identification. For example, a bar-coded wristband and a bar code reader can be used to verify the patient's identity at any time, and to ensure that the right patient is about to receive the right treatment. Errors, many of which are caused by getting the patient identity wrong, currently cost the NHS around £2 billion in extra bed days.

Other areas in which patients are likely to benefit include:

Surgical instrument sterilisation: small bar codes can enable the automatic identification of which instruments have been sterilised and when.

Drugs: batch numbers and expiry dates will be tracked automatically, ensuring that old or faulty batches do not enter circulation. Dosage and frequency will be linked directly to patient records.

A number of healthcare trusts are already using auto-identification including Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and Royal Free NHS Trust. Others are implementing pilots and training courses prior to putting new technologies into practice.

Gary Lynch, COO of GS1 UK commented: "Standardising its identification process is a key component in securing patient safety across the NHS. GS1 UK has more than 30 years experience providing global standards for unique, automated identification to its members and working with the NHS on this initiative is a major step forward for both of our organisations. We look forward to rolling out this project as soon as possible to make hospitals and surgeries safer for patients."

Additional notes to editors

1. The policy document 'Coding for success - simple technology for safer patient care' launched by Lord Hunt today will encourage further use of product coding on a voluntary basis within industry and sets out a programme of action that will facilitate change both in the NHS and industry on a voluntary basis. See www.dh.gov.uk.

2. Auto-identification and data capture (AIDC) technology has the potential to tackle mismatching errors in particular, as well as bringing other efficiencies and cost savings. Key applications include: bar coding and radio frequency identification (RFID).

Case study examples

In Leeds Teaching Hospitals, the Catheter Labs have reduced stock levels from £1.6 million to £700,000, including 983 products lines. The average spend per day is £30k, which amounts to approximately 4.5 weeks cover and 11 stock turns per year. Now orders are place twice weekly on an electronic system instead of twice daily on a paper system, reducing staff time dramatically and reducing the costs of the purchasing process from up to £7.05 per line to 39 pence.

At the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals the electronic blood transfusion system the reduced time taken for each procedure is estimated to equate to personnel savings of £17.44 for each transfusion. For their 30,000 transfusions per year, this amounts to total savings of £523,200 per year.

One trust deploying a robotic dispensing system saw a reductions in time spent in the dispensary of 34% for pharmacists and 51% for technicians, enabling far more time to be spent on the wards working directly with patients and ward staff.

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

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