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Glenfield Hospital of the University Hospitals of Leicester, U.K.

In September 2009, the SpaceTRAX Point of Use™ Inventory Management solution was implemented in the Catheterisation Lab (Cath. Lab) at the University Hospital of Leicester. After one year of use (September 2010), we have reviewed the results in this case study. The case study shows remarkable positive results – and not only economically.
Download the case study

Kullbergska, Sweden

When Kullbergska Hospital in Sweden realized the need for a new material supply system, there were a number of demands and requirements. But the overall goal was clear: give the nurses more time for the patients.

Implementation of the Scan Modul System® was a full-scale project including thorough analysis of material supply and assortment, reduction of the range of products, calculation of delivery frequencies and requisite stock space, and specification of work routines. Scan Modul System, chosen as the preferred partner, also took care of hardware installation and the introduction of new job routines.

Besides exceeding all of the defined project goals, implementation of the Scan Modul System also led to significantly higher job satisfaction among nurses and service staff. And better general knowledge about material supply and consumption.

Download the Concept - A general introduction brochure for more details on the testimonials.

Two-bin and SMDS at Goulburn Valley Health, Australia

During January 2005, Scan Modul hardware and Scan Modul Data System (SMDS) software were installed in Goulburn Valley Health Theatres. The following quotations are from the final project report:

Download the Concept - A general introduction brochure for more details on the testimonials.

Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

Tallaght Hospital, located in south-west Dublin, is a 600 bed Public Teaching Hospital linked to Trinity University which provides acute services to a catchment population of over 500,000 people. It opened in 1998 following the merger of three city hospitals: Adelaide, Meath and National Children’s Hospitals.
While the hospital installed and implemented many new modern and innovative diagnostic
and treatment systems, Purchasing and Materials Manager Bob Sinnott placed great emphasis on ensuring the hospital the best breed of systems for Materials Management operations. The choice fell on Scan Modul System.
“I’m pleased to say that the introduction of the Scan Modul System for stock replenishment
and management was a major success. After seven years in use, I can honestly say that Scan Modul System has proven its worth by transforming the way the merged hospitals carry out their stock control,” says Bob Sinnott.
Some of the benefits the Tallaght Hospital have gained from using the Scan Modul System:

• The workloads of nursing and clinical staff have been transformed to allow them to spend their full time on patient care.
• A verified stock reduction in the wards and clinical areas of about 60%
• The Scan Modul Data System (SMDS) has been successfully interfaced to the Hospital’s Materials Management and Financial System to give fully automated stock administration.

In 2003, an International Hospital Accreditation survey was conducted in the Tallaght Hospital. The report specifically mentioned the Scan Modul System as being so impressive that it recommended other hospitals to examine its potential.

Download the Concept - A general introduction brochure for more details on the testimonials.

Two-bin concept introduced by Scan Modul

Scan Modul’s two-bin concept - Two-bin - for replenishment and control of hospital supplies is the application of a very simple idea:

when supplies are half depleted, replenish them!

Recent studies of replenishment systems in healthcare institutions suggest that there are considerable benefits to be gained from implementing the two-bin system.
A study at six Canadian and French healthcare institutions shows that the two-bin system enables ordering activity to be conducted much more quickly than with the popular par level (or topping up) system, because the two-bin system is limited to scanning the labels of the empty bins instead of counting supplies.
The study data shows that the average ordering time per supply line may be four to seven times faster with the two-bin system than with the par level. The same study concludes
that the two-bin system seems to be an advantageous option over cart exchange and the par level system by minimizing both the degree of contact with healthcare staff and, if well managed, the inventory level.*
When using Scan Modul System’s two-bin and barcode system, you can reduce the time that nurses spend on inventory and supply replenishment by up to 95%.
Landry, S. et al.: “réapprovisionnement des unités de soins : Portrait de six hôpitaux québécois et français” (Hospital Ward Replenishment: A Portrait of Six Hospitals in Quebec and France), Logistique & Management – Special hospital logistics edition
2004, p. 13-30.

Download the Concept - A general introduction brochure for more details on the testimonials.

Radiology department at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, UK

Prior to implementing the SpaceTRAX® system, ordering was a manual process at the Interventional Radiology department of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. All inventory management activities were very time-consuming and thus expensive. The Interventional Radiology department, which includes neuro-radiology, had 844 different item numbers with an annual purchase price of approximately €986,000.
SpaceTRAX® not only improved inventory management, it also helped the hospital achieve financial benefits and save time. The time the department spent on inventory management has dropped by 31%, reducing the annual cost of labour by €6,500.
The system has been up and running for three months and within this short period of time there has been a documented reduction in the inventory level of €101,000 or 20%, which in addition gives a saving in the inventory costs by €5,300 per year. Mr. Mark Smith, team leader of the department is of the impression that the par levels are still too high compared to the consumption and a further reduction in the inventory level is expected.
A wide variety of information can be obtained from Space-TRAX®, including various types of management reports, case costs, monthly stock values, expiration reports, and so forth.
Mr Smith believes that the system has greatly improved inventory control - especially for himself as Team Leader - and gives him better insight into and increased confidence in the available stock levels. The number of manual requisitions has also decreased.

This report displays all of the items with an impending expiry date. The Expired Items Report is expected to help the department decrease the number of items that expire and thus reduce wastage by approximately 80% or €19,100 per year.
The system ensures that the list of items for ordering is continually updated, but it does not prescribe time limits. Instead, it provides the ability for the departments to independently place orders as and when they need to, resulting in coordinated order planning and inventory management on the one hand and patient care on the other hand. This makes the system very flexible.
Mr. Smith is particularly enthusiastic about the features in SpaceTRAX® that enable inventory to be assigned to individual cases. This meets the UK Department of Health’s requirements to drive Payment by Results (PbR) and Patient-Level Information and Costing Systems (PLICS) into the NHS clinical areas. With information direct from SpaceTRAX® Mr. Smith will be in a position to claim the costs through the Health Resource Groups codes (HRG). This will then ensure that the department gets paid for all the procedures performed. The SpaceTRAX® management reporting tools also enable reports to be generated for average case costs.
All in all, the Interventional Radiology department of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire is very pleased with the SpaceTRAX® system. All of the staff groups quickly learned how to use the system and appreciate how it has helped increase the efficiency of the inventory management processes they are involved in.
Team Leader Mr. Smith is particularly pleased with the improved control of inventory, the reduction in time spent on inventory management and the cost savings the department has been able to achieve since implementing the Space-TRAX® system.

Download the SpaceTRAX brochure that contains this case study.

Cardiology department at Västerås Central Hospital, Sweden

Before SpaceTRAX® was implemented in the Cardiology department of Västerås Central Hospital, the average stock value was €270,000, 26% of which was consignment stock.
‘It was clear that the department’s stock was too high, but by how much, and which particular products we had too many of, no one actually knew,’ explains Chief Physician Mr. Ortwin Herterich.
Implementing SpaceTRAX® gave the department full insight into all of the items: consumption, quantity in stock, price, and expiration dates, minimum and maximum stock levels, etc. According to Mr. Herterich, this insight significantly improved inventory management. After three months, the average stock value was reduced to €180,000, or by 33.5%. The lower stock level generates one-time savings of €90,000 and an annual reduction of inventory costs of €4,500.
The Cardiology department at Västerås Central Hospital used to spend some 36 hours a week on inventory management and ordering, which almost corresponds to one fulltime position. Implementing SpaceTRAX® has significantly reduced the time the department spends on inventory control and ordering (77%), resulting in a reduction in labour costs of €32,000 per year. ‘Freeing up human resources is one of the most significant benefits we have achieved with the implementation of SpaceTRAX®,’ says Mr. Herterich.
The Chief Phycisian estimates that the Cardiology department at Västerås Central Hospital discarded items for a value of €20,000, representing 1.7% of the annual purchase amount, every year. By implementing SpaceTRAX®, the number of expired items has dropped considerably, ‘as the system continuously and automatically updates us on the products with an impending expiry date. We now have a tool that enables us to pick the oldest items first and mark the items that will soon expire,’ says Mr. Herterich.
These, and the many other tools in SpaceTRAX®, help ensure that the items in stock and the items on order are the right items in the right quantities. This further reduces the number of items that need to be scrapped, generating an annual savings for the Cardiology department of €18,000 (90%).
‘The entire staff likes working with SpaceTRAX® because they can see the benefits of the system. We now spend very little time on inventory management and ordering, and the system gives us full control and plenty of statistical evidence to support better order management,’ says Mr. Herterich.
The Chief Physician expects patients will benefit too: he is confident that the department will be able to attract the most competent staff in the field because they will feel they are using their resources properly - on the patients and not on managing inventory, ordering and looking for items. ‘We have been given the right system - Space-TRAX® - to help us achieve our goals for the future,’ says Mr. Herterich.

Download the Scan Modul System's SpaceTRAX case study.