RFiD Discovery, a leading provider of real-time location and tracking solutions for healthcare, has launched a new Automated Contact Tracing for Infection Control solution, designed to help hospitals rapidly identify potential exposure events, support infection prevention teams, and reduce the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs).
HCAIs affect millions of patients worldwide each year, prolonging hospital stays, increasing mortality, and placing immense strain on clinical resources. Manual contact tracing processes are time-consuming and often incomplete, particularly in complex clinical environments. RFiD Discovery’s new solution automates the collection of accurate proximity data, enabling faster and more informed decision-making during infection incidents.
“Effective infection control depends on having the right information at the right time,” said Arron Duddin, General Manager at RFiD Discovery.
“Our automated contact tracing solution gives infection prevention teams clear visibility of interactions between patients, staff and assets, allowing them to respond quickly, reduce risk and maintain safer hospital environments.”
Automated, real-time insight across the hospital
The solution uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, with patients wearing BLE wristbands and staff carrying BLE-enabled ID badges. When individuals or tagged assets come into close proximity, the system automatically records the interaction, including duration, distance, time and location, without any manual intervention.
BLE gateway readers and anchors installed throughout the hospital capture location and proximity data and feed it into a central platform, providing real-time alerts, visual dashboards and detailed reports. Once an infected person is identified, infection control teams can quickly see who may have been exposed, where interactions occurred and which areas require targeted cleaning or further investigation.
Key benefits include:
- Faster identification of exposure risks, supporting timely containment of potential outbreaks
- Improved patient and staff safety through accurate, automated contact tracing
- Reduced reliance on manual tracing, freeing up clinical and operational staff
- High-precision risk modelling with configurable risk rules that can be tailored to different infectious diseases and hospital policies
- Quick and easy implementation with the ability to integrate with existing systems
The solution is designed to integrate with existing hospital infrastructure and can be deployed as an entry-level system or expanded to support wider real-time location services, including asset tracking, patient flow optimisation, sterilisation tracking and automated cleaning workflows.
About RFiD Discovery
RFiD Discovery, a Paragon ID company, is the UK leader in integrated identification and location tracking solutions, with deployments in over 200 hospitals across the UK, Europe, and beyond. With more than 15 years’ experience, RFiD Discovery provides a comprehensive suite of tracking solutions for medical devices, sterile services, temperature monitoring, staff safety, patient flow and more.
RFiD Discovery holds Cyber Essentials certification and is GS1 UK approved.
