Dayton, Ohio - Long recognized for its patient identification leadership, Standard Register Healthcare is now poised to make its mark in the United Kingdom (UK). Led by its trading partner, the JL Group Limited of Lancashire, England, the company’s laser wristbands, which are marketed under the PatientBand brand, are quickly gaining favor among hospitals in the National Health Service (NHS), which serves an estimated 60 million people throughout the UK.

“We’ve worked closely with Standard Register and NHS Trusts in developing the PatientBand to align with hospital requirements and address the National Patient Safety Association’s (NPSA) Safer Practice Notice of 2007,” said Don O’Connor, JL Group joint managing director. “Those efforts provided the foundation for winning the framework contract with the NHS Supply Chain. In fact, we were ranked number one overall, based on price, product evaluation and our ability to deliver.”

A UK study revealed that during 2006 over 24,000 patients had been mismatched to their care, and that nearly 3,000 of those mismatches related to wristbands and their use. The market for the PatientBand was created when the NPSA advised all NHS organizations that by July 2009 handwritten wristbands were to become a thing of the past, and that all wristbands must be printed directly from their internal patient administration systems (PAS).

PatientBand products use Standard Register’s design, which combines wristbands with patient labels on the same laser sheet. The patient data, which can include bar codes and photographs, is printed on the wristband and replicated on the labels at the same time, so that safe patient identification is achieved throughout the patient’s stay.

According to O’Connor, some of their UK clients started purchasing the PatientBand even prior to their winning the NHS contract. “They saw how easily and efficiently their staff handled our wristbands, and how comfortable and safe they were for the patients to wear,” he explained.

Standard Register pioneered the industry’s laser wristband design, which integrates patient ID bands and labels on a single sheet. It is now widely used in acute care settings throughout the U.S. The relationship with JL Group provides Standard Register with its first avenue into the UK healthcare market.

“Patient safety is a critical priority around the globe,” said Brad Cates, president of Standard Register Healthcare. “It’s gratifying to know we can support the JL Group with products that can help UK hospitals establish the essential foundation for reducing errors and improving the quality of care.”