Hospitals to track blood products by barcode

IRELAND is the first country in the world to set a new safety standard by electronically tracking blood products given to people with the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia.

The very latest advances in barcode technology are to be used to check all blood-clotting products used by patients over the next year.

An electronic scanner will read a barcode on the patient’s hospital wristband and one placed on the clotting factor. The computer system will then check that the right treatment is being administered.