Aneurin Bevan University Health Board selects RFID medical asset tracking system

Aneurin Bevan Health Board's Grange Hospital, Wales

One of the largest Welsh Health Boards is set to implement passive RFID tracking system for medical devices

RFiD Discovery is delighted to announce that Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB), one of the largest Health Boards in Wales, has selected their passive RFID system to track medical devices and other capital assets.

Serving a population of over 500,000 people, ABUHB has purchased the RFID system to track the movements of medical equipment such as infusion pumps, monitors, scanners, beds as well as other capital assets across five of their main hospital sites.

The new system will help ABUHB’s clinical engineering team locate medical devices in order to speed up the processes of maintenance and repair. At the same time, location information will reduce the time clinical staff spend looking for devices so more time can be dedicated to looking after patients. In addition, the system will greatly speed up and simplify the process of auditing of capital assets for the finance team.

Each item to be tracked will be fitted with a pre-printed RFID label. This uniquely identifies each asset and enables the quick capture of device locations with an RFID reader. Audits will be carried out at regular intervals using mobile handheld readers, which send the information to the central RFiD Discovery database.

As part of the system, 500 location labels are also being applied throughout the hospitals to enable staff to quickly and correctly capture location information during the auditing process. The system is designed for future expansion and includes the option to use mobile trolley readers to further reduce time spent on auditing or install fixed readers to automatically capture location information in real-time.

To enable clinical engineering staff to see the locations of devices which are due for a service or require repair, the RFiD Discovery software will be fully integrated with the health board’s existing asset management system from Medusa, allowing the exchange of information between both systems. The software will also be interfaced with ABUHB’s Asset 4000 finance asset management system, to enable the health board’s finance team to access accurate location data for relevant assets.

Simon Dawkins, Lead RFID Consultant for Healthcare at RFiD Discovery, commented:

“We are thrilled to be working with the team at Aneurin Bevan, who will be one the first Health Board’s in Wales to implement RFID technology for tracking medical devices and capital assets and experience its multiple benefits.”

Rob Holcombe, Deputy Finance Director at ABUHB, said:

“We are pleased to be leading the use of RFID asset tagging for capital assets in Wales and be one of the first to implement tagging of medical devices. Working in partnership with RFiD Discovery has been a very positive experience and their team have been extremely pro-active in helping the Health Board to develop, design and deliver the programme ready for implementation. We look forward to achieving the multiple benefits of this innovative investment.”