Case Study: Plymouth NHS - Tracking 40,000 medical assets
UK's largest GS1 compliant RFID system in healthcare

Largest GS1-compliant RFID healthcare tracking solution in the UK & winner of the prestigious global award RFID Journal award for best RFID implementation in healthcare

Since installing the largest GS1-compliant RFID track and trace solution in the entire NHS to track 40,000 medical assets, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) is seeing substantial benefits throughout its organisation.
As a result, the trust has received a large amount of recognition in the industry and beyond, including winning the prestigous RFID Journal global award for Best Healthcare RFID Implementation.
Real-time visibility of assets
How does it work?

In addition to its large network of fixed readers, UHP also uses two different types of mobile passive RFID readers. This includes 10 RFID-enabled smart Android handheld scanners with a read range of up to six metres, which are used to locate specific equipment.
The Trust also uses two mobile trolleys, each equipped with an Impinj reader to detect tagged assets and inventory as it is pushed around the hospital site, with a read range of up to 11 metres. Together the mobile solutions offer a quick and efficient way for the hospital’s engineering and technical teams to regularly perform audits internally and within departments and wards.
Powerful real-time location

Through the use of GS1 compliant labelling, the Trust has also been able to dedicate more time to patient care and reduce inventory levels throughout its organisation.
Key benefits
- Reduced time spent looking for devices
- More time for patient care
- Real-time visibility of available devices
- Improved planned preventative maintenance (PPM) and compliance rates
- Time to audit devices reduced by 90 to 95%
- Valuable data for future planning
"The system has been hugely beneficial for us by tracking devices as they come and go, enabling us to see whether they are actively in use. Even more crucially we can now see at a glance what is in stock, saving clinical staff a wasted trip to the medical equipment library."
Helping locate devices quickly
“The difficulty in locating devices led to situations of devices not being available when needed. The uncertainty of device availability meant that wards would hoard equipment, which exacerbated the problem even further. Having visibility of device locations through a central tracking system helps to effectively solve this challenge.”
Increasing compliance
Reducing delay
Reducing time, cutting costs
Improving patient care
"As we near completion of the project, we are confident we will achieve even more of the intended benefits to attain our primary goal – to improve patient safety – and ultimately help our hospital save more lives."
What's next?