Patient information

Scan for Safety

NHS Golden Jubilee is participating in one of NHSScotland’s first Scan for Safety pilots.

The Scan for Safety programme is funded by the Scottish Government and aims to improve patient safety by helping to keep track of medical devices such as stents, pacemakers, lenses and orthopaedic implants within our Cardiac, Orthopaedic and Ophthalmology services.

How it works

We will use barcodes to help record your procedure in detail. This will include a detailed record of the medical devices that we have used.

We want to improve safety right through your journey at NHS Golden Jubilee. This will help us to record information about your patient experience.

We will record: 

• Your details such as name, date of birth and CHI number to link the procedure with your medical record.
• The date and time of your operation.
• The exact device which has been used.
• A record of who carried out your procedure.
• Information on the specific location of your procedure (hospital and theatre).
• Details of the equipment that was used.

What differences in care will I experience?

Staff will be using a new system, but your day-to-day care will not change.

Your procedure involves implanting a medical device and details on this process will be shared by your consultant.

Your device will be scanned, so we can record its details. We scan barcodes in a similar way to a supermarket checkout. We will have an electronic record of devices used for your care. This includes specific information related to the exact device used and to the procedure.

Rarely, devices can be found to be faulty. If this happens, information from Scan for Safety will help us to find the patients involved. It will be easier for us to contact you and give you the best care possible.

What will this information be used for?

The information may be used in a number of ways, primarily:

• To improve safety. It will be easier to contact you if we discover a problem with a product.
• To provide the NHS with better information about the devices in use. We will also learn more about cost.
• Scanning devices should also reduce paperwork, helping the staff to focus on your care

How will this information be stored?

Scan for Safety will store information electronically on a centralised database so it can be easily accessed if required. This will improve on current processes which use a mixture of paper-based and electronic systems.

Will I be able to access this information about myself?

We are looking at ways to do this in future. Currently, as a pilot initiative, there’s not a specific process to do this. If you do need access to this information, your local Health Board will be able to help you. The best route to direct this kind of request would be to speak to the medical team who arranged your procedure.

Will my data be secure?

Absolutely. As with all your electronic health records, the data will be stored and used in accordance with NHS Scotland standards. You can find out more about this on NHS Inform (see ‘Care, support and rights’).

More information

Scan for Safety is being delivered by NHS National Services Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland.

It will improve the way we collect information about your healthcare. At this point, the Scan for Safety initiative is concentrating on tracking implantable medical devices. Examples include stents, pacemakers, breast implants, and joint replacements. Anyone receiving devices such as these will benefit.

Further information on the Scan for Safety initiative is available at: www.scanforsafety.nhs.scot or 

Scan for Safety - NHS inform

Click here to download the information above in our Scan for Safety leaflet.