As the Department of Health’s Coding For Success Initiative is reviewed, Fairfield Group cite the many benefits their customers have seen over the past three years, as well as many real challenges that are faced by Hospitals today.
Worcester, 8 December 2010 – Leading edge Healthcare Auto ID solutions provider Fairfield Group today commented on the newly released review of the ‘Coding for Success’ report, initially launched in 2007 to improve traceability and coding in the NHS. The report discusses the importance of surgical instrument tracking, and also divulges information about ‘considerable activity at European and Global level aimed at developing harmonisation of device identification, including the forthcoming announcement of a US regulation that will require all device manufacturers to identify their devices with the EU being likely to follow’.
The report describes progress as being a little slow, the reasons behind this being related to complexity, co-operation, effort, and investment, according to the Department of Health.
Mark Lynch, Fairfield’s Managing Director said: “Fairfield are at the forefront of surgical instrument tracking, and the report findings come as no surprise to us. Many NHS hospitals and Trusts find it a complex topic and the level of information out there can be overwhelming. Our approach from day one was to focus on client goals and simplify the process as much as possible, ensuring that individual Hospitals and Trusts implement a solution that is bespoke to their processes whilst ensuring very important guidelines are met. Personally speaking we’ve seen some incredible success stories coming from our client base pertaining to patient safety, increased efficiencies and huge cost savings, and a large part of this we attribute to our knowledge sharing approach.”
Fairfield offer a GS1 compliant solution that uniquely marks the instrument so it can be identified and traced through the complete operating procedure and beyond. Their expertise has helped many Hospitals and Trusts throughout the UK to improve patient care, save costs and increase efficiency. Recent projects include Nottingham University Hospitals – NHS Trust, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Derriford Hospital Plymouth and Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Lee Wragg, Fairfield’s Business Development Director discusses the challenges ahead: “The Department of Health talk about realisation of benefits and commitment to the process in order to progress track and trace to a higher and more widespread level within healthcare. These issues are exactly the main challenges and pain points for many of our clients initially. Selecting a solutions provider that excels at the technology AND has knowledge of the industry like we do can often address most of those issues in the first meeting. It’s a case of making sure the hospital is aware of the bespoke benefits to them – cost and time savings, reduction in effort, and increased ability to become more patient-centric. We then clearly present a process and philosophy which takes into account the expected commitment from them, and when they weigh that up with the benefits, most wonder why they hadn’t done it a long time ago.”
Find out more about Fairfield’s Surgical Instrument Tracking Solutions or call 0044(0)1905794779
To find out more about the Review of coding for success implementation visit the Department of Health Website here.
About Fairfield
Fairfield specialises in Auto ID solutions within supply chain applications and processes. Customers have been enhancing their asset tracking, manufacturing, logistics or traceability operations with the help of Fairfield for over 30 years. With specific in-house expertise on technology enablers such as barcoding, RFID, vision sensors and 2D barcodes, and a friendly, completely independent knowledge sharing approach, Fairfield ensures clients integrate solutions that achieve their goals. A wide client base covers Healthcare, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Aerospace, Industrial, Automotive and Food & Beverage. Headquartered in Droitwich Spa, Fairfield are considered one of the few global experts in the field of 2D barcode technology, particularly within the surgical instrument asset tracking, pharmaceutical and industrial arena and are invited to consult and speak about this on a regular basis.
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