A locally designed high tech patient safety innovation has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s CareScan+ is an innovative point of care scanning solution designed to track and trace products used by clinicians.
Barcode
Upon scanning a barcode on an item, CareScan+ provides clinicians with accurate real-time decision support information such as expiry dates and product suitability.
CareScan+ also creates detailed records of patients who have received surgical implants meaning patients can be quickly identified and contacted in the unlikely case of a manufacturer’s recall.
Award nomination
Developed by the Trust’s Information and Technology Services team (I&TS), CareScan+ has today been announced in the shortlist for the Patient Safety category of the 2023 Health Service Journal awards.
The team initially developed the concept for CareScan+ in 2018 in order to support the Department for Health and Social Care’s Scan4Safety programme. Since then the product has gone from strength-to-strength.
It was successfully implemented into a single orthopaedic theatre in 2020 and is now used every day in all surgical theatres, cardiology day unit and endoscopy departments within the Trust’s hospitals.
Proud
Tony Naylor, associate director of ICTand CareScan+ lead said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted for this prestigious award and I’m really proud of what the team has achieved. Working alongside our clinical colleagues to develop and implement a digital solution to increase patient safety is what motivates us all.”
Ish Ahmed, consultant upper GI surgeon & CareScan+ clinical lead said: “The CareScan+ software has the potential to transform patient safety within the NHS for our continued work to be recognised is fantastic news.”
Previous award success
During the pandemic, the use of CareScan+ to track ventilators and support optimal patient care contributed to the system receiving recognition, winning both the Health Business Patient Safety Award and the Health Tech Newspaper Award for Supporting Healthcare Teams.
The Health Service Journal awards will be announced in November.
