GS1 UK in healthcare

The GS1 System of standards provides unique identification for products, drugs, medical devices, assets, returnable equipment, locations, clinicians and patients through the use of bar codes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.

Benefits to the healthcare sector include:

• Improve patient safety
• Reduce and eliminate medical errors
• Save money and improve efficiencies
• Track and trace effectively
• Positively verify people and products

In its ‘Coding for Success’ policy document, the Department of Health has recommended that the GS1 System of coding should be adopted throughout the healthcare system in England, both for manufactured products and for coding systems used within healthcare settings, such as patient identification codes on wristbands and tracking of sterile instruments.

Click here for a copy of the Department of Health’s ‘Coding for Success’ policy document.

Click here to download a copy of Advance Notification from Department of Health.

The NHS Recommendation

"To reap the benefits in healthcare everyone needs to work to agreed standards. We are recommending that both industry and the NHS should use the GS1 System for coding.”
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Ex-Minister of State for Quality at the Department of Health

GS1 UK has been supporting the Department of Health’s ‘Coding for Success’ policy through initiatives with several NHS agencies including NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CfH) and NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (NHS PASA).

In February 2007, the Department of Health recommended that the GS1 System of coding should be adopted throughout the healthcare system in England.

Following this recommendation, the NHS CfH initiative, facilitated by GS1 UK, was launched to engage, inform and support NHS hospitals in England on the importance of using coding technology and the GS1 System of Standards to improve patient safety.

“The NHS CfH is provided NHS Hospitals in England an opportunity to join GS1 UK for free so that they can start coding their application areas using globally unique GS1 standards to improve patient safety and keep in line with the government’s ‘Coding for Success’ policy.”
Neil Lawrence, NHS CfH Auto-ID Project Manager

Click here to download The Safer Practice Notice by the NHS to ensure wristbands are standardised.