The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has started using Unique Device Identifiers based on GS1 standards in healthcare recalls, in a move which GS1 UK says ‘will improve traceability, efficiency, and cost savings, throughout the NHS’.
GS1 UK said: “GS1 global standards are being widely adopted by NHS Trusts in England in line with the NHS eProcurement Strategy mandate (HEJ – June 2014), and the Personalised Health & Care 2020 Strategy, published last year. This recent move by the MHRA underlines the power of using a single method of coding and identification across the whole industry. Through the implementation of GS1 standards in patient safety alerts, each person, product, and place, everywhere along the patient pathway, can be instantly identified. Thus in the event of a healthcare recall, identifying, tracing, and recalling defective items is much quicker, cheaper, and easier, wherever they are in the healthcare supply chain.”
Andy Crosbie, head of Biosciences and Implants at MHRA, said: “In perhaps the first case ever, the Government recently informed the health services about a medical product recall using Unique Device Identifiers – a significant milestone for the healthcare sector.”
