Ensuring efficiency and safety in theatres

GS1 barcoding technology is currently being rolled out at Trusts across the UK, following a national drive to standardise on GS1 identifiers and barcodes to enable the tracking and identifying of surgical instruments and medical devices; to improve inventory management and product recalls; as well as identify areas of clinical variation. A key focus of the projects underway is to understand how the technology can be used to deliver financial and patient safety benefits for the NHS. There are now six ‘Demonstrator Sites’ selected for Department of Health funding, as well as other sites operating under their own initiative. The technology has a wide variety of applications throughout the hospital setting – from reducing medication errors in pharmacy, to improving the safety and efficiency of surgery. 

Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been selected as one of the sites and has been among the first in the country to use barcodes, linked to a patient’s wristband, to accurately track the medical equipment used in its operating theatres. Speaking at the GS1 UK annual healthcare conference, Kevin Downs, director of finance and performance, and Keith Jones, the clinical director of surgery, provided an insight into the financial and patient safety benefits of implementing GS1 standards in theatres, sharing their experiences of securing clinical engagement from the Trust’s theatre teams. 

Royal Derby Hospital is the newest hospital in the East Midlands and was officially opened in April 2010 by Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. The hospital cares for more than 180,000 people as inpatients, outpatients, emergency patients and day cases – which equates to around 625,000 visits from patients each year. As well as 1,159 beds across 50 wards, the site also has 35 operating theatres.