Posted on: 22/08/22

Keeping medicines, blood products and samples at the right temperature is crucial for hospitals, GP surgeries, pharmacies and throughout the healthcare supply chain, to ensure compliance, patient safety and avoid waste.

There are still a number of facilities across the UK opting for manual checks to ensure optimum temperatures are maintained to protect critical inventory. While there is no capital outlay with this method, there are many risks involved, and it could end up costing you more in the long-term.

With this in mind, we’ve put together some of the key benefits of moving to an automated temperature monitoring system:

1. Compliance

Automated temperature monitoring systems will compile a complete, digital record of how products have been stored. This makes demonstrating regulatory compliance straightforward and hassle-free.

2. Saves time

Manually checking and recording temperatures, to ensure compliance, is time-consuming and takes staff away from their core jobs. Logging the temperature data of a single fridge or freezer may only take a couple of minutes. However, multiply the number of devices you need to monitor, and the small task soon turns into a long process!

Automated temperature monitoring systems not only save time and resources, but also removes the risk of human error, or checks being missed if emergencies occur.

3. Minimise false alarms

To help support manual checks, many facilities fit their fridges with an alarm system that will sound if the temperature rises. However, they can often be overly sensitive and sound whilst the fridge door is opened to retrieve medicines.

Automated temperature monitoring systems come with sensors that can take into account door openings and can be configured with bespoke delay settings so alarms won’t be constantly triggered. This helps to reduce the staff’s workload, as they don’t have to deal with unnecessary alarms.

4. Avoid losses

Automated temperature monitoring systems provide you with real-time alarms 24/7/365, which means staff can be alerted to any changes in temperature immediately, whether they are on or off site. This means issues can be dealt with quickly to prevent the loss of valuable stock.

5. Ensure patient safety

Maintaining the correct temperature will help to safeguard patients and ensure their medicines remain safe. Consistently monitoring the temperature will allow staff to react quickly and ensure patients' medicines continue to work effectively.

How much could you save by moving to an automated temperature monitoring system?

At Contronics, we provide industry leading automated temperature monitoring systems to reduce waste, improve efficiency, ensure safety and achieve compliance. We have created a calculator to show how much you could save by switching from a manual to an automated temperature monitoring system. Click here to get started!