New look Scan4Safety NHS Website to intensify efforts to enhance safety and traceability

NHS England has launched a new NHS Scan4Safety website as a central resource to support trusts to adopt and optimise scanning processes.

The new scan4safety.nhs.uk site will act as an information hub, providing case studies, updates, tools, resources and practical guidance for any trusts looking to expand or embark on their own adoption journeys.

Scan4Safety was first launched in 2016 by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The initial two-year pilot saw six NHS trusts adopt GS1 standards to uniquely identify every person, product and place throughout their respective organisations. This was achieved by implementing point of care barcode scanning to enable the delivery of better patient care, improved clinical productivity and supply chain efficiency.

As evidenced in the 2020 Scan4Safety report, the wealth of data and insights accumulated revealed multiple transformative benefits for both patients and staff. This included over 140 thousand hours of clinical time being released back into care, almost £5 million in recurrent inventory savings and £9 million of non-recurrent inventory reductions.

Scan4Safety is now led by the NHS England National Patient Safety Team as part of their wider strategic programmes of digital safety work. Aiming to build on the successes and learnings of the initial phase, the team will encourage trusts across England to adopt scanning technologies in line with objectives outlined in the NHS Digital Clinical Safety Strategy.

The launch of the new website will provide NHS trusts with the tools and resources needed to support wider implementation of point-of-care scanning as part of the organisation’s national approach. It is also bears significance for NHS England’s Outcomes and Registries programme and is closely aligned with NHS Supply Chain’s inventory management and point-of-care scanning initiative, the DHSC’s MedTech Strategy, and the Strategic Framework for NHS Commercial.

NHS Commercial Solutions also own an NHSE endorsed Inventory Management framework and would be happy to help you if you wish to investigate this further. Details of the framework and who to contact can be found here.