- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust trial uses RFID technology specially adapted to track samples.
- The new system allows continuous tracking by adding custom tags and installing antennas and readers throughout the department
Hospitals in England are using RFID to better track tissue samples from cancers patients in the National Health Service (NHS) system.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which deals with tens of thousands of cancer cases every year, will trial the real-time tracking system for the samples. The system is based on RFID technology that has been specially adapted to help improve treatment for people with serious and life-threatening conditions.
Currently, when samples come in they are processed into blocks of paraffin wax which are cut into very thin slices for microscopic examination by histopathologists. The department at Leeds receives 60,000 cancer cases every year, generating more than 250,000 blocks and nearly one million slides.
How RFID Will Be Used
Existing tracking systems can only provide historic information about where a sample has been, rather than its current location, and are vulnerable to human error as they need manual scanning.
The new system allows continuous tracking by adding custom tags with RFID technology to the cassettes holding the blocks and installing antennas and readers throughout the department. Using RFID improves the range, readability and resilience of RFID technology.
Medical Benefits
Dil Rathore, the trust’s biomedical scientist and pathology innovation, said the new system will not only prevent sample loss, but speed up processing and increase efficiency in services.
“The stress and anxiety felt by patients awaiting a potential cancer diagnosis can be made much worse if they are told their sample has been lost,” said Rathore. “Unfortunately, this ‘never-event’ happens more often than is acceptable.
“That’s why we came up with a real-time system to track the precise location of each sample and its movement through our histopathology department. The interpretation of changes in tissue forms the foundation of successful cancer treatment.”
Modernizing the UK System
More than 3 million people are living with cancer in the UK, according to latest estimates, a figure that is predicted to rise to 3.5 million by 2025 and 5.3 million by 2040. Currently, just under 400,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year.
Andrew Gwynne, Minister for Public Health and Prevention, noted the use of RFID is a step to bring the nation’s health care service into the digital age.
“This is just one example of how innovative new technology can help cut NHS waiting lists and get better value for taxpayers’ money at the same time,” said Gwynne. “We will back innovation and research as we work to fix the NHS for patients across the country.”