6pm p l c : iFIT™ goes live at NHS Tayside

August 17, 2016

Just four months after signing up, NHS Tayside is now actively running iFIT™, 6PM's logistics management system for patient records.

The Scottish Health Board will now have a fully controlled and rationalised paper records inventory that identifies and locates all records, temporary files, volumes and duplicates within the Angus, Perth and Kinross and City of Dundee areas. It is the first NHS site in Scotland to become GS1 compliant with Health Records. Through a rolling programme that started in June, all active patient records will be tagged with a GS1 compliant radio frequency (RFID) tag containing Tayside's unique GS1 prefix and GLN location codes. The solution also utilises location based filing processes that will make filing records easier and more efficient as they now no longer need pre-sorting and can be placed directly onto the shelf in any order and tracked to the shelf location barcode.

iFIT uses sensors located in key areas around hospital sites to automatically track the journey of health records as they move around estate locations in real time. It also further supports the tracking process through use of electronic handheld 'RFID guns' - devices that can locate individual misplaced files immediately within a 360 degrees radius. The system is improving the speed and efficiency within which files are being located.

Stuart Keys, Clinical Services Manager at NHS Tayside said, 'I would like to thank 6PM from all of us at NHS Tayside for the way they have supported the launch of iFIT. We are delighted that iFIT has started to deliver benefits so quickly. Throughout the preparations 6PM have been thoroughly professional in everything they have done. I have been very impressed by their willingness to do whatever it takes to produce good results. As a customer, I have had a great deal of trust in their judgement and their commitment to make things work for us.'

Steve Wightman, Deputy CEO at 6PM plc commented: 'iFIT will work seamlessly alongside Tayside's Intersystem TrackCare EPR (when it is introduced in 2017) and will provide a platform for managing a future scanning and EDM program. In the future, the solution will also permit the Health Board to utilise iFIT to track medical devices, beds, wheelchairs, samples - anything that moves. This will provide further cost efficiencies, improve the service provided to the patient and reduce clinical risk.'