In an effort to minimize transfusion risks at healthcare units, the NHS Connecting for Health (CfH), an agency of UK’s Health Department has decided to implement latest RFID technology in blood tracking.
Over the years, the number of error blood transfusion cases is on rise. The official data shows there are 81 such cases in 1996-97 and 110 cases in 97-98. Five patients died from 1996 to 2004 because of wrong blood transfusion and such type of mistakes has further taken nine lives.
Therefore, the CfH has determined to adopt an RFID based tracking system to trace blood conveniently and reduce mistakes like giving patients the wrong type of blood.
As of now, CfH is seeking a non-teaching hospital trust for the RFID Pilot, which is to be commenced in March 2007 to evaluate the IT guidelines developed by the NPSA. The UK government has decided to bring down incorrect blood transfusions by 50 percent by 2010.
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