Blood-tracking solution deployed by West Sussex Trust

Patients living in West Sussex will benefit from the introduction of a range of innovative blood-tracking systems.

MSoft eSolutions’ Bloodhound solution will be implemented at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which has three hospitals – St Richard’s in Chichester, Southlands in Shoreham-by-Sea and Worthing Hospital.

Bloodhound controls access to and from all blood fridges, while a bedside management system allows each barcoded blood unit to be matched with the patient’s barcoded wristband in a matter of seconds.

Hospitals need to know that the technology they invest in will provide them with the sophisticated, efficient and, most importantly, secure and safe systems they require

The systems provide further enhanced security and safety by ensuring that only approved staff are allowed to access blood. The firm’s blood-tracking solution provides positive identification of users and patients and in depth auditing of all bloods across each and every stage of the transfusion process – to help get the right blood into the right patient.

The trust, which serves a population of more than 450,000 people, will also be rolling out MSoft’s Sample360 blood samples labelling system which dramatically reduces the number of rejected samples.

And, in a further innovation, Western Sussex will be arming some of its staff with portable device technology at the bedside thanks to the latest Bloodhound software application. The application works with Apple iPods as well as Windows or Google Android devices.

MSoft was selected as part of a seven-year wider managed services tender submitted by Abbott Laboratories, part of the global healthcare company, Abbott. Another healthcare provider, CliniSys Group, was awarded the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) part of the contract.

Matt McAlister, managing director of MSoft eSolutions, said: “We are delighted to have been selected by Western Sussex to provide the trust with a comprehensive range of systems which will significantly enhance patient safety.

“This is an extremely busy trust which has a proven track record of putting patient safety at the top of its agenda. It has rightly recognised the importance of harnessing the very best in technology as part of its overall patient care.

“Hospitals need to know that the technology they invest in will provide them with the sophisticated, efficient and, most importantly, secure and safe systems they require.”