Scandit has signed a national contract with NHS Digital to provide data capture services as part of the UK’s response to COVID-19.
As part of the deal, NHS organisations will have free access to Scandit’s technology to support COVID-related services such as test-tracking, PPE tracking, and patient care until 30 November 2021.
Scandit’s technology is being used at all fixed and mobile test sites, in home-testing kits, and at schools.
We have taken steps to support the NHS at every step of the way to integrate our technology into the complex NHS IT infrastructure seamlessly and look forward to continuing this partnership and helping the NHS make it possible to deliver quick COVID-19 tests for every UK resident that needs it
And the technology will continue to help the NHS quickly deliver tests which are currently at a rate of over 1.2 million per day, to cope with the increased demand and provide services at surge testing sites.
By helping the UK’s national healthcare service digitise the management of the testing process, Scandit’s technology forms part of the digital backbone of the UK’s response to COVID-19.
To help meet the demand for testing, a solution was needed to ensure a safe and contactless way for healthcare professionals, the military, or agency staff and trained volunteers to reliably and safely identify individuals on arrival and track their samples as they move through the testing process.
Regular, rapid testing will continue to play a significant role in the months ahead across 1,400 UK sites, so it is imperative that the process of getting a test is as quick, seamless, and safe as possible.
As a method of easily linking test vials to individuals, the widely-adopted technology has proven vital for such a vast national operation.
The aim is to make the process as intuitive and straightforward as possible for the public and NHS staff while ensuring the very-best quality of care.
Using a smartphone with Scandit’s integrated barcode scanning and computer vision technology, a staff member at a test site can quickly scan a barcode on a booking form to identify the patient from a safe distance.
Likewise, each sample vial has a barcode attached to it, and staff can give this a quick scan to ensure the test sample matches the booking ID.
Samuel Mueller, chief executive of Scandit, said: “We have been helping NHS Digital digitise its nationwide testing process since the start of the pandemic.
There is no acceptable margin of error, and our clinical-quality barcode scanning technology delivers a highly-accurate read rate whether the scan is happening through a car window at a drive-in mobile test site or by someone who is self testing at home
“And we are delighted our technology will continue to support the healthcare service as demand for testing services continues to increase.
“Our technology ensures that tests can be tracked quickly and easily. It also integrates easily with smartphones, meaning that the NHS has been able to scale the number of testing sites and make it easy to deploy home testing effectively.
“There is no acceptable margin of error, and our clinical-quality barcode scanning technology delivers a highly-accurate read rate whether the scan is happening through a car window at a drive-in mobile test site or by someone who is self testing at home.
“We have taken steps to support the NHS at every step of the way to integrate our technology into the complex NHS IT infrastructure seamlessly and we look forward to continuing this partnership and helping the NHS make it possible to deliver quick COVID-19 tests for every UK resident that needs it.”