The most important resource I have, is the staff

For me, the most important resource I’ve got is the staff. It’s important they are not being overburdened at their work – for example, things that can be done better with the right IT – that’s what matters.

Oudwin Griffith (pictured left) is a Senior Charge Nurse within the Neurological Radiology Unit at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He has worked alongside Linda Murray (pictured right), Team Manager for NHS Glasgow’s System and Services Desk within Procurement, in the implementation of the Inventory Management System within his department. 

For Oudwin and the staff he works with, staffing shortages have had an impact on their ability to provide patient care. Staff have often taken on additional responsibilities. Oudwin says, “We’ve got a lot of problems with staffing. Staff from my department have had to move to other departments to help out when there have been staff shortages. So having the Inventory Management System, it has helped cut down on the time that people – particularly nursing staff – have had to spend looking at stock issues. Instead they are free to go and take care of patients, and to be honest, that’s what the staff really care about”.

Reducing stock take to hours (rather than days):

“We had our end of year stock orders we do every March. Usually it can take up to two days for us to go through doing the stock order, the end of year stock, and our normal orders. Now we have the Inventory Management System, its all simply down to scanning and automation. The barcode labels have the product information, and we simply scan. IT significantly cut down time.”

Oudwin continues, “It’s not just scanning that makes the improvements, its the system overall. Before, the lack of communication between systems meant staff having to go through 5 – 6 books to find items, and retrace many steps with colleagues. Also if one member of staff was on annual leave, and put through an order before they went, then the visibility of that wouldn’t be open to all and it would be more difficult to trace this. But with the Inventory Management system, everyone can see all the same records and orders. It’s much better”.

Final reflections:

“For me, the most important resource I’ve got is the staff. It’s important they are not being overburdened at their work – for example, things that can be done better with the right IT – that’s what matters. So my staff are happy with Scan for Safety so far because they are getting to do what they are being paid to do in terms of looking after patients. So it they are happy then I am happy”.

With huge thanks to Oudwin for sharing his experiences.