February 12, 2020 Industry news
GS1 UK’s healthcare team are on a countrywide tour, speaking to the chief information officers and chief clinical information officers of NHS trusts and CCGs, to discover how standards are helping to improve the way their organisations work.
On 21 November, 13 representatives from nine different organisations across the east of England, joined our the team for the second in the series of our regional roundtables.
The session, sponsored by Brother and Datalogic, brought senior information officers together to discuss the value of point-of-care scanning and how GS1 standards can shape the NHS for the better.
For those that attended, there were six valuable considerations that took precedence – here are their highlights:
- Alignment and education of suppliers
If suppliers and solution providers are not engaged or on board from the outset, the barriers are already in place before getting started.
- The need for central mandates
The driving force behind adoption needs to come from central NHS arm's length bodies. This will add the weight behind the work trusts and suppliers are doing.
- Cultural change and user buy-in
It's important that staff are brought in to discussions early so they are invested at the earliest stage. Failing to do so, results in slower uptake.
- Best practice must be policed
Once in place, there needs to be a way to monitor adherence. Standards can only do so much if not everyone is on the same page.
- Healthcare must learn from retail
In an industry where standards have been so widely adopted, there's a lot that healthcare can adapt from retail – even though patients and produce are two very different entities.
- The dm+d must be updated and adhered to
When looking at standardising information, data capture needs to be consistent. So, information in central databases such as dm+d, needs to be kept accurate.
The executive summary will be coming soon followed by the highlights from the next in the series which took place in the West Country on 5 February.