A hospital trust serving 500,000 people in the UK has signed up to a blood tracking system aimed at providing accountability for all transfusions, according to the system’s manufacturer.
UK-based specialist IT firm MSoft said Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which covers Gloucestershire and neighbouring counties, was the latest NHS trust to commit to its blood tracking solution.
MSoft eSolutions said the contract was awarded following an open tender, leading to responses from several companies, followed by site visits and a critical evaluation of various platforms available based on functionality and quality of solutions.
Stephan Bates, manager of the trust’s haematology and blood transfusion department, led the procurement team.
He commented: “For a trust of our size this is a huge undertaking, so we had to be absolutely rigorous in our selection process. MSoft was not only best placed to meet our current needs but gave us the potential to meet future needs, such as bedside monitoring of transfusions on the ward.”
The first phase, which has already gone live in the haematology and oncology units serving Cheltenham General Hospital and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, interfaces with an existing pathology system.
This lets the trust track units of blood, platelets and plasma from the blood bank to dedicated kiosk-controlled refrigerators.
PIN numbers and usernames are then needed to release stock for clinical use and provide accountability and an audit trail.
Ultimately, Gloucestershire NHS Trust will be looking to track blood usage not only in the two major hospitals but also across a network of six primary care trust hospitals in the region.
Formed in 1999, MSoft eSolutions has been involved in tracking various NHS and public-sector assets since April 2000 and blood tracking solutions since 2005.
In 2002, MSoft provided Greater Glasgow Independent Living and Equipment Service with an asset management and ordering system.
This technology formed the basis of the blood tracking product, which has been adopted by Trafford, North Mersey HIS and Bolton NHS Trusts with the aim of ensuring vein-to-vein traceability of all blood products.
Press release 10/9/2007
