Herbert Healthcare
18 Rookwood Way
Haverhill
Suffolk
CB9 8PD
Tel: +44 (0)1440 711 400
Fax: +44 (0)1440 712 559
Email: click here
Standardising wristbands improves patient safety - NPSA
September 2009
In September 2009 the Department of Health provided an advance notification of the approval of a requirement for a new information standard by the Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care (ISB).
Summary:
The proposed standard defines the procedures necessary to bar code patient identifiers on the identity band in all healthcare settings where an identity band is worn by the patient.
This standard will apply to all healthcare settings where an identity band is worn by the patient and system suppliers that develop and implement systems that result in the production of a patient identity band.
Subject to the approval of the Full standard by ISB, NHS organisations and those organisations delivering NHS commissioned services deploying bar coding systems for patient identifiers on the identity band will be expected to comply with the standard by 01 July 2011.
More information?
Download: Advance Notification - Dept. of Health (.pdf 107k)
November 2005
On 22nd November 2005 the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) issued Safer Practice Note No. 11 which stated “Research and anecdotal evidence show that patients often do not have wristbands and that this increases the risk of them being incorrectly identified and given the wrong care.”¹
On 3rd July 2007 NPSA issued Safer Practice Note No. 24 for action by Chief Executives which stated that “Over the 12 month period February 2006 to January 2007, the NPSA received 24,382 reports of patients being mismatched to their care. It is estimated that more than 2,900 of these related to wristbands and their use.
Standardising the design of patient wristbands, the information on them, and the processes used to produce and check them, will improve patient safety. “²
· 24,382 annual patient mismatches
· 2,900 estimated errors from wristbands
· 72% of wristband errors were instances where a patient was not wearing a wristband
The report states:
By 18 July 2009, all NHS organisations in England and Wales that use patient wristbands should:
5. Generate and print all patient wristbands from the hospital demographic system (for example Patient Administration System; PAS) at the patient’s bedside, wherever possible.
Healthcare organisations that are unable to implement this recommendation within two years should ensure that their Strategic Health Authority (SHA) or the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) are fully informed of the reasons why. They should agree with the SHA/WAG a plan that includes timescales which the SHA/WAG confirm are reasonable.
More information?
¹ Source: Wristbands for hospital inpatients improves safety;
http://www.npsa.nhs.uk/nrls/alerts-and-directives/notices/patient-identification
² Source: Standardising wristbands improves patient safety;
http://www.npsa.nhs.uk/nrls/alerts-and-directives/notices/wristbands