09/10/2025
Spotlight on Healthcare leaders ๐ฅ
What does it take to create a safer, smarter future for healthcare?
Professor Sir Terence Stephenson, Chair, NHS Providers; and President, GS1 UK shares a powerful journey from barcode skeptic to champion of patient safety through standards.
โThis is not futuristic stuff, GS1 standards are saving lives today.โ
Professor Terence Stephenson, pediatrician and President of GS1 UK.
After reviewing two major UK healthcare scandals, involving breast implants and metal-on-metal hip replacements, he realised that GS1 barcodes could enable patient recalls just like faulty cars. That insight changed everything.
- 800,000 newborn blood spot tests each year
- Safer blood transfusions
- Accurate surgical implants and prescriptions
- Everyday protection in operating rooms across the UK
โTo move from analog to digital, we need to scan data, not write it down. Barcodes and 2D DataMatrix are the way forward.โ
๐ฌ Watch the interview with Prof. Stephenson and discover how GS1 is enabling smarter, safer care in the UK and beyond: