Hi Richard. I agree with you on the whole cost of setting up the GS1 system. We have been selected as one of six trusts to implement it with some extra cash supplied by the gov to help. i have worked with RFID before and the trick is to get it right at the go. some work with radio frequency whereby you install beacons with the buildings, or you go along the wifi route. WIFI is more suitable as most trusts have it already installed. EPR, GS1 and RFID all running through wifi-what could go wrong
The rfid benefits the engineers more than the clinical staff unless you open the entire system to them. It can improve patient care in the sense you can locate that certain mattress, or bladder scanner or wheel chair, thus speeding up the care provided. Be sure to purchase rfid tags where you can replace the batteries. I have seen tags that are completely sealed and have a 2 year life span, pointless if you are trying to save money. with regards to damage of equipment its usefull when billing the offender as you can match time of damage to device (ecg machine) to the area it stopped working. I used the ekahau system in my previous trust and it worked well. The only problem is keeping up with battery levels on the devices before they stop speaking to the system.
Hopefully we should be a bit more aware of the capabilities of GS1 by April. It looks good on paper but as you say a mare to set up. Hopefully we can tie it in with the implementation of the RFID system we will end up with.
