The document “Recommendations on the use of GLNs in NHS Trusts” outlines the standards which allow for the unique identification of medical devices, their locations and the companies, NHS Trusts and organisations which own/manage them. The Department of Health recommends GS1 standards in “Coding for Success” NHS England and the HSCIC also strongly recommends GS1 standards. ISB 1077 and ISB 0108 define the use of GS1 standards and how they should be used by the NHS and its suppliers for identifying products, patients, locations and assets and for the use of bar codes and RFID.

The standard above gives a full definition of how the GS1 standard should be used. This blog article explains the modifications made to e-Quip (in version 2.15.0) to support this standard.

The standard uses the following terms:

GS1 Company Prefix: An 8-character code which identifies an organisation. A field for this value has been added to the following screens:

— Healthcare Provider
— Customer
— Supplier

gs11

 

AI – Application Identifier: These are fixed values for various GS1 features. The values used by e-Quip are:

— 8004 – GIAI
— 414 – GLN

GLN – Global Location Number: A unique identifier for a location or organisation unit. A field for this value has been added to the following screens:

— Location
— Service

If a location or service barcode label is scanned, the value output will be:

41412345678NNNNN

Where:

— 414 is the AI
— 12345678 is the GS1 company prefix
— NNNNN is the Location/Service GLN
GIAI – Global Individual Asset Identifier:A unique identifier for a device.

The barcode printed on an equipment label must contain the following information:

800412345678NNNNNN

Where:

— 8004 is the AI
— 12345678 is the GS1 company prefix
— NNNNNN is the Equipment No

It is not mandatory to include the first two components in the human-readable text printed on the label.

If the label above is scanned with a barcode reader then the entire GIAI is read, not just NNNNNN. If this value is entered in an Equipment No lookup then the system searches in the following sequence:

Exact or Partial Match: This would only ever match if GS1 is not being used. i.e. For non-GS1-compliant Trusts the existing functionality is unchanged.

By Healthcare Provider: If the first 4 characters are 8004, then a search is made for:

Equipment No = NNNNNN AND Provider Company Prefix = 12345678

By Customer: If the first 4 characters are 8004, then a search is made for:

Equipment No = NNNNNN AND Customer Company Prefix = 12345678
Several new functions have been provided to support conversion from GS1 barcodes to e-Quip values

— GS1_GIAI2EquipmentNo( @GIAICode )
— GS1_GIAI2EquipmentId( @GIAICode )
— GS1_GIAI2ServiceCode( @GLNCode )
— GS1_GIAI2ServiceId( @GLNCode )
— GS1_GIAI2LocationCode( @GLNCode )
— GS1_GIAI2LocationId( @GLNCode )

Simon from Addenbrooke’s is the GS1 expert. If you would like more details then ask us for his contact details and we will put you in touch.