By scanning items as they are received, stored, and used, NHS organisations gain real-time visibility of their stock levels, locations, and expiry dates.
While an IMS focuses primarily on the Product and Place elements of Scan4Safety’s Four Ps framework, it has a direct impact on the quality and safety of patient care.
Effective inventory management underpins safe, reliable clinical care by ensuring the right products are available when and where they are needed, reducing the risk of procedures being cancelled due to missing or expired stock, and helping prevent the use of out-of-date or recalled products.
An IMS can also support implant tracking, enabling organisations to quickly identify affected patients in the event of a product recall or field safety notice. By automating stock management tasks, it releases clinical staff time previously spent on manual stock counts and administrative tasks, freeing them to focus on direct patient care.
Implementing an IMS with barcode scanning provides an essential foundation for wider Scan4Safety adoption, establishing the scanning infrastructure, data standards, and organisational processes that support expansion into broader patient-facing clinical use cases.
Why does it matter?
It is estimated that NHS trusts hold around £1 billion of shelf stock at any one time, with significant variation in stock management practices across the country.
Without effective inventory management, NHS organisations can face significant challenges:
- Procedures cancelled or delayed due to missing or expired stock
- Staff spending time on manual stock checks instead of patient care
- Difficulty locating affected products quickly during a safety recall, and delays identifying affected patients
- Excess stock leading to waste and unnecessary cost
- Limited visibility across multiple storage locations
Key features of an IMS include:
- Real-time stock tracking across multiple locations
- Automated expiry date monitoring and alerts
- Point-of-care alerts for recalled or unsuitable products
- Implant and medical device traceability
- Automated stock replenishment and ordering
- Comprehensive stock auditing
- Data integration with trust systems and national NHS platforms, including electronic patient records (EPR), procurement and purchase-to-pay (P2P) systems, product catalogues, and the Medical Device Outcomes Registry (MDOR)
What are the benefits?
NHS organisations that have implemented an IMS have reported significant benefits, including:
- Average financial savings of £2.7 million per organisation over five years
- Around 700 clinical and administrative hours released per year
- Reduced procedure cancellations due to improved stock availability
- Faster response to product recalls and field safety notices
- Improved implant traceability, supporting patient identification during recalls
- Reduced stock wastage and improved sustainability
- Better data quality for national programmes including the Medical Device Outcomes Registry and NHS Federated Data Platform
- Improved system interoperability
The NHS Supply Chain IMS Programme
As part of a national NHS Supply Chain programme, IMS and Point of Care Scanning solutions are being deployed to NHS organisations across England, supporting Scan4Safety and GS1 standards adoption and feeding into broader NHS programmes including the Federated Data Platform and the Medical Device Outcomes Registry (MDOR).
For organisations without an existing inventory management system, this programme provides a recommended starting point for Scan4Safety.
To find out more or to take the next step, visit the NHS Supply Chain website or contact the IMS team at ims@supplychain.nhs.uk
Supporting national programmes
Medical Device Outcomes Registry (MDOR)
The Medical Device Outcomes Registry is a national database that records details of high-risk medical device procedures, including implants and devices with significant therapeutic effects. The registry was established in response to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review (the Cumberlege Report). By capturing medical device and procedure data at the point of care, IMS helps organisations submit accurate, timely information to MDOR, supporting improved patient safety through earlier identification of potential device safety issues.
What organisations are saying
“At Dorset County Hospital we are delighted to be part of the NHS Supply Chain IMS programme. The system itself has been well received by our clinical teams and by our own team of Inventory Controllers.”
Louise Brereton, Head of Procurement and Logistics, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
“The trust staff were all full of praise for the programme and how it’s transforming their working environment, and the early successes have created such a pull from other internal departments and other trusts.”
Debbie Stevenson, Head of Procurement, West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust