“It’s just overwhelming!” – Our in-house CareScan+ system has won a major award for the second time.
CareScan+ is a system developed by the Trust’s ICT team to use barcodes and scanners to identify patients and equipment. It was recently named the winner of the Patient Safety Award at the 2020 Health Business Awards.
The awards ceremony was hosted by TV Doctor Hilary Jones. It recognises excellence in healthcare.
Chief information and technology officer Professor Graham Evans said: “We knew we’d developed a great piece of kit. But we didn’t think it would have this impact. The success of CareScan+ has really taken us by surprise.
“It’s been embraced by the staff in the Trust and to win two major awards in one year is incredible.
“I’m so happy for the team and proud of what they’ve achieved. They took a great idea and made it reality.
“It’s just overwhelming!”
What is CareScan+?
CareScan+ was initially trialled in late 2019, and later implemented within the Trust in October 2020 in theatres. Clinical staff scan items, such as replacement hip and knee joints, using a unique handheld device.
CareScan+ maintains a record of surgical implants used for re-order purposes and can also provide decision support by raising warnings to the person scanning the item. For example, the handset will inform the user if the item is out of date or some other aspect of its use needs to be checked.
When using CareScan+ to scan surgical implants, the items can be traced much more quickly than they could in the past.
So in the unlikely but possible event of a manufacturer’s recall, every patient who has received the recalled product can be identified within minutes so that any necessary review and follow-up is arranged much sooner.
The Health Business Patient Safety Award, sponsored by medical equipment firm Jones AV, is the second award in 2020 for CareScan+. It previously won the ‘Supporting Healthcare Teams’ prize at the annual Health Tech Newspaper Awards.