Apple iPod for blood-tracking

Hospitals in Nottingham will become the first in the world to take the advantage of an electronic blood-tracking system allowing nurses to use Apple iPods at the bedside.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has agreed the deal with leading healthcare technology company MSoft eSolutions to implement this technology. The Trust already has a strong working relationship with MSoft which last year decided to introduce its Bloodhound solution following a rigorous tender process.

Bloodhound controls access to and from all blood fridges, while a bedside management system allows each bar-coded blood unit to be matched with the patient's bar-coded wristband in a matter of seconds. The systems provide further enhanced security and safety by ensuring that only approved staffs are allowed to access blood. The firm's blood-tracking solution provides positive identification of users and patients and in-depth auditing of all bloods across each and every stage of the transfusion process - to help get the right blood into the right patient.

"We have been in discussions with a number of Trusts about the implementation of our world first Bloodhound application. Nottingham has chosen to use Apple iPods, but the application also works with Windows or Google Android devices”, Matt McAlister, Managing Director of MSoft eSolutions said.