National blood service, Oxford University hospitals NHS trust: technology innovation award runner-up

Oxford University hospitals NHS trust uses handheld computers at the bedside to scan the identity barcode on a patient's wrist band.

Introducing an identity barcode on a patient's wrist band, using handheld computers at the bedside, electronically controlling the temperature of blood fridges and tracking stock have improved patient safety Oxford University hospitals NHS trust's national blood trust and saved £528,000.

The trust wanted to reorganise its bedside and laboratory transfusion service in order to reduce the number of deaths from "wrong transfusion" – the second most frequent cause of death from transfusion reported to the UK's serious hazards transfusions scheme. In the past 15 years, errors in the UK transfusion service were responsible for 27 deaths and 120 cases of major morbidity.

Oxford hoped that by using technology it would also reduce the amount of time staff spent checking blood, reduce blood wastage and the inappropriate use of supplies, as well as speed up the supply of blood in emergencies.

Consultant haematologist professor Michael Murphy says: "For many members of the public or patients to think a process that is so important is relying on bits of paper and people looking at long numbers, is just unbelievable."

Today transfusion patients are identified by a barcode on their wrist band, which is scanned by a nurse at the bedside using a handheld computer. The nurse also scans his or her own barcode before following the transfusion process written on the computer screen.

There is now a complete electronic audit trail of blood supplies after the blood bank IT system was linked to others in the trust, which has led to significant improvements in blood sample collection, the collection of supplies from fridges and the transfusion-related admin.

Paperwork has been cut by 52 minutes per patient and the bedside transfusion process now requires one nurse instead of two. The initiative is recognised as an exemplar NHS evidence, quality, innovation, prevention and productivity project. The Oxford team wrote a national specification for the electronic transfusion service for the former National Patient Safety Agency.

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