According to the Independent, there was a 32% rise in cancelled operations due to faulty kit (Independent UK, 2019) and £900m in lost hours from NHS nurses in trying to locate missing kit (Journal of Nursing Times, 2009). 

A significant contributor to cancelled operations and surgical mistakes is simply a lack of effective surgical equipment tracking, which can devastate patient lives if delays are life-critical and lead to significant cost inefficiencies and payout for healthcare facilities. 

Why tracking matters.

The pivotal driver behind any activity in the healthcare industry is always patient safety, and tracking has been an underestimated enabler of this. An article in the Patient Safety in Surgery Journal found that retained surgical item events (where surgical items had been left in the patient’s body post-surgery) were the number one sentinel event in 2019.

These events are referred to as “never events”, meaning that they are entirely avoidable, especially when track and trace technology comes into play. However, current guidelines on track and trace technology lack stringency and cohesiveness, and hospitals face using completely different technologies for the same tasks. For example, while some Sterile Service Departments (SSDs) use barcoding or radiofrequency tagging, others opt for manual counting processes. 

This proves particularly challenging when the lending and borrowing of equipment is necessary for certain surgeries; how can hospitals effectively track kit that belongs to another hospital that uses a completely different (or a lack of) technology for tracking? 

Moreover, surgery cancellations still remain a huge challenge for the NHS, with the latest data showing 18,780 cancellations in Q3 of 2023/24 (NuffieldTrust, 2024). A significant contributor to those cancellations is lost kit; whereby NHS nurses have lost up to 40 hours a month merely looking for missing medical equipment, a survey by the BBC suggests. Effectively tracked equipment could reduce hospital cancellations, leading to reduced operational inefficiency costs, improved patient outcomes, and a more capable system. 

Making tracking easy

A lack of time is a pervading challenge in the healthcare industry; professionals are overworked, meaning the effectiveness of integrating new technologies into a healthcare space is reduced, as complicated technology requires time for staff to learn and become familiar. 

However, modern track and trace software, such as FingerPrint, consider these challenges. With a user-friendly system, end-to-end kit visibility is quickly obtained:

“I’ve used many traceability systems in the past and FingerPrint Medical’s is by far the most user-friendly system – it’s so simple and easy to update, scan barcodes and see what’s going on across the full cycle.”

Tracey Scott, CSSD Manager, Dublin Dental University Hospital

Since barcoding is an incredibly effective tracing solution, each instrument, implant and device is individually barcoded to be scanned at every step of its journey – delivering detailed visibility on stock levels and status while helping to eliminate manual paperwork. 

A unique-to-the-market part of FingerPrint, is our module which offers cross-hospital visibility. Despite the disparity between tracking technology across different healthcare settings, this can reliably track equipment regardless.