Beyond the core applications in theatres, medicines management, blood tracking, pathology and inventory management, NHS trusts are finding innovative ways to apply barcode scanning technology across their organisations. These emerging use cases demonstrate the flexibility of GS1 standards and the potential for Scan4Safety principles to improve safety, efficiency and traceability in diverse clinical and operational settings.
This page highlights some of the innovative applications being explored or implemented across the NHS and beyond. While not yet as widely adopted as the core use cases, they offer inspiration for trusts looking to expand their Scan4Safety journey.
Infant milk tracking
Administering the wrong breast milk to an infant carries significant safety risks, especially in neonatal units, including potential infection transmission and considerable parental distress. Barcode scanning systems can link expressed milk bottles to both the mother and the infant, with scanning at the point of storage and administration ensuring the correct milk reaches the correct baby. This closed-loop approach provides an additional safety net in an environment where vulnerable patients cannot identify themselves. For formula milk, barcode scanning systems can be used to ensure efficient inventory management and that the patient receives the right formula milk. This is significant where there are allergies and intolerances.
Intraocular lens verification in ophthalmology
Cataract surgery is one of the highest-volume procedures globally, with the implantation of the wrong intraocular lens (IOL) a persistent risk due to the vast inventory of lens powers and types. Implementing barcode scanning to verify the lens against the patient’s biometry data before implantation has been shown to reduce wrong IOL incidents significantly.
Bed management and patient flow
Some trusts have extended Scan4Safety principles to bed management, using location barcodes to track patient movements through the hospital. By scanning patients into and out of locations, trusts gain real-time visibility of bed occupancy and patient flow, supporting capacity planning and infection control. This application transforms bed management from a manual, often telephone-based process into a digitally enabled, accurate system.
Infection control and contact tracing
Linking patient locations to timestamps through barcode scanning enables rapid contact tracing when infection control incidents occur. If a patient is later diagnosed with a transmissible infection, trusts can quickly identify which other patients and staff were in the same location during relevant time periods. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some trusts adapted their Scan4Safety infrastructure to support equipment tracking and infection control processes at pace.
Equipment and asset tracking
Medical equipment such as infusion pumps, monitors and wheelchairs can be tagged with GS1-compliant barcodes, enabling trusts to track their location and maintenance status. This reduces time spent searching for equipment, ensures devices are available when needed, and supports planned preventive maintenance schedules. North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust demonstrated this flexibility during the pandemic by implementing ventilator tracking within one week, creating a real-time dashboard showing equipment location and status across the organisation.
Estate and security applications
Barcode and location scanning can support estate management functions, including tracking maintenance activities, verifying cleaning schedules, and managing access to secure areas. By extending GS1 standards beyond clinical applications, trusts can build a comprehensive digital infrastructure that supports operational efficiency across the whole organisation. Also traceability of laundry and catering products and assets.
Mortuary and deceased patient identification
Positive identification remains critical after death, particularly for ensuring correct identification during post-mortem processes and release to funeral services. Some trusts have extended barcode scanning to mortuary processes, maintaining the chain of identification from admission through to release and reducing the risk of identification errors at a sensitive time for families.
Electronic observations and vital signs
Integrating barcode scanning with electronic observations ensures that vital signs are recorded against the correct patient record. Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust found that switching to electronic observations with barcode scanning reduced the time per observation by nearly two minutes, saving the equivalent of 20 nurses’ time per day across the trust. This released time can be reinvested in more frequent observations, potentially catching patient deterioration earlier.
Sterilisation and instrument traceability
Tracking surgical instruments through the sterilisation cycle ensures that items are properly processed before use and creates an audit trail linking specific instruments to specific procedures. Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust implemented barcode scanning for pre-sterilised screws, providing complete traceability of the exact item implanted while also saving £36 per use on sterilisation costs.
Getting started with innovative applications
Many of these innovative uses build on the foundation established through core Scan4Safety implementations. Trusts with mature inventory management and theatre scanning systems are well positioned to extend barcode scanning into new areas. Key considerations include:
- Ensuring consistent use of GS1 standards across all applications
- Engaging clinical and operational stakeholders in workflow design
- Starting with high-impact areas where the safety or efficiency case is clearest
- Learning from existing implementations and adapting approaches to local context