Gloucestershire Managed Services (GMS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has partnered with Idox for a successful trial of Idox’s BodyGuard T lockbox – a dedicated solution for tracking BodyGuard T (formerly T34) syringe pumps in hospitals, homes and across the community.
The Medical Engineering department at Gloucestershire Hospitals has been using iAssets, part of Idox’s iFIT suite of solutions to improve the tracking, management and maintenance of medical devices across the estate. But the team needed a dedicated solution to locate valuable syringe pumps, throughout the hospital and local community, as these are easily misplaced due to their portability.
The aims of the pilot study were principally to:
- Perform due diligence to mitigate concerns around Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and the proximity of the asset tracking tag to the BD BodyGuard T syringe driver
- Support the Trust with a comprehensive risk assessment in line with MHRA guidance to ensure patient safety is the priority
- Demonstrate the Trust’s internal business case for full adoption of a dedicated BodyGuard T solution to accurately track devices, improve patient safety and enhance device maintenance schedules
- Provide a blueprint pilot for other trusts seeking to improve their tracking, management and maintenance of BodyGuard Ts.
As part of the trial, a series of 24-hour baseline testing was completed in multiple ways with two different versions of the device commonly used throughout the NHS and healthcare facilities – the 3rd edition T34 and the next generation BD BodyGuard T.
Steve Webb from GMS comments, “Best practice advice is for Trusts to complete a risk assessment before deploying RFID devices. This pilot trial, part of a subset of tests to be carried out, has instilled confidence that GMS have successfully demonstrated the asset tracking tag does not interfere with the BodyGuard T during a normal infusion. The flow rate and delivery of medicines are consistent with that of a device without a tag.”
Steve continued, “As with many Trusts, the portability of BodyGuard T syringe drivers means that many can be misplaced around the hospital or lost within the community. As such, we needed a robust and streamlined solution to accurately track these mobile devices wherever they are used. This pilot has successfully proved the value of medical device tracking and is an important first step in mitigating any concern around EMI and using tracking tags on sensitive equipment.”
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