04.10.17
At a pivotal point
Source: NHE Sep/Oct 17
Richard Price, Scan4Safety programme manager at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHNT), runs through the many efficiency and safety benefits of using barcode scanning in the healthcare sector.
Following the successful award of £2m by the Department of Health in January 2016, PHNT has been working to implement global identification (GS1) and European electronic business (PEPPOL) standards as part of the national Scan4Safety programme. One of six demonstrator sites, Plymouth has started to demonstrate how adopting these standards across the trust can improve patient safety, increase clinical effectiveness and strengthen operational efficiency in the NHS.
Since the start of last year, the Scan4Safety team at Plymouth has redesigned trust processes in order to make use of interoperable electronic systems and utilise modern scanning technology. Employing these systems has revolutionised the private sector and is now about to do the same with the NHS.
“We come across barcode scanning every day, such as at the supermarket or even when checking in at an airport,” explained Richard Price, Scan4Safety programme manager at Plymouth. “Using this technology within the healthcare sector will greatly reduce occurrences where the wrong procedure is carried out on the wrong patient, for instance, or there are insufficient stock levels.”
Improving operational efficiency is high on the agenda and has been the focus of many areas of the programme.
Looking at purchasing procedures, the Plymouth team was keen to reduce inefficiency and the number of mistakes that were occurring as a result of sending purchase orders to suppliers manually, either by putting a form in the post or by sending a PDF via email. Simple keying errors from both the buyer and supplier side could result in the wrong product or quantity being ordered. A single form getting lost in the post or buried in an email account could ultimately lead to a cancelled operation, for the stock levels would not be replenished in time.
In order to address these issues, PHNT has implemented electronic systems that function on a ‘machine to machine’ basis and therefore do not require manual intervention. As part of this process, suppliers are instantly alerted that a product has been used and therefore requires replacing. This triggers a further order, and the receipt of these goods is then confirmed with the supplier, generating an electronic invoice and activating an automatic payment process.
These systems not only eliminate the likelihood of human error and orders being mislaid, but also save a great deal of time for all of those involved. Surgical operations will no longer be forced to cancel due to the lack of product availability, and it’s all made possible because of scanning a barcode at the point of use.
The trust is also introducing the use of mobile apps at the bedside, which will increase clinical efficiency and therefore release more time for patient care. The Scan4Safety team has already employed GS1-compliant patient identification wristbands for all adult inpatients at the trust, and these will eventually be scanned using a mobile device in order to enable the real-time capture of patient data at the point of care.
“At the moment, patient information can take up to an hour to be updated on trust systems, due to the delay between written notes from a patient’s bedside then having to be manually inputted via a desktop computer,” said Price. “Instantly uploading patient information at the bedside using these apps will enable clinical staff to make more informed decisions there and then, using accurate real-time data. And it will free up their time, which means a greater level of patient costing.”
The mobile apps will have many beneficial implications across the trust, such as increased accuracy in blood tracking, reduced risk of expired products being used and a much more efficient process for product recall.
It’s an exciting time for the trust, with its software development team finalising its designs and plans to roll out the new systems coming to fruition. “We are at a pivotal point in the implementation process,” summarised Price. “Our next step is to put these devices to use.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Tw: @PHNTScan4Safety
W: www.plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk