NHS barcode project aimed at improving patient safety

Six NHS trusts piloting a barcode system for tracking patients, devices and staff are showing promising signs of improving patient safety, the Department of Health says. The Department of Health claimed that its £12 million ‘scan4safety’ project could save lives and up to £1 billion in the next seven years. The savings and safety benefits are based the assumption that barcoding and other auto-ID technologies are taken up systematically across the NHS.