Devon hospitals bank on MSoft’s service

HEALTHCARE technology provider MSoft has won two new contracts to install its blood tracking systems at hospitals in Devon.

The Ellesmere Port-based company has signed deals with the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

The company’s web-based electronic blood tracking and bedside management technology will initially be installed at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and at Torbay Hospital, but to eventually widen it to all parts of both Trusts over the next 18 months.

MSoft’s electronic blood tracking system controls access to and from all blood fridges, while the bedside management system allows each bar-coded blood unit to be matched with the patient’s bar-coded wristband in a matter of seconds.

Nurses use a combination of handheld devices and computers on wheels at the patient’s bedside.

The company says its system enhances security and safety by ensuring that only approved staff are allowed to access blood. Its tracking system provides positive patient identification of users and patients – ensuring the right blood goes into the right patient.

MSoft’s managing director Matt McAlister said: “More trusts are keen to sit down and talk to us about how we can not only improve patient safety and hospital security but also, in these difficult economic times, how we can also provide cost-effective systems which allow the NHS to make genuine savings.”