Central Manchester University Hospitals

The Greater Manchester Immunology Service (GMIS) has been fully reliant on the Kelsius temperature monitoring system for the last 8 years. The system replaced a manual system of temperature recording which was time consuming and inadequate for our requirements. GMIS was the first pathology laboratory in the UK to achieve accreditation to ISO standard 15189 of UKAS. Use of the Kelsius temperature monitoring system strengthened our position and ability to successfully achieve this quality standard.

The Kelsius system provides a means of monitoring a bank of fridges, freezers and incubators continually in real time via a system of wireless temperature sensors that upload temperature readings to a central data logger. In the event of a temperature deviation from our defined limits the laboratory personnel are notified immediately and are able to address and rectify any issues. During the last 8 years of use the system has proved very reliable and robust and has not broken down once. The temperature readings are easily accessible from a central web portal that allows the data to be displayed in the form of tables and graphs, providing a full audit trail that is compliant with UKAS.

The Kelsius system ultimately contributes to the high quality of our service and patient safety. In addition the ability of the system to continually monitor our temperature readings helps save staff time and allows staff to concentrate on more appropriate duties. Consequently the Kelsius system helps financially by ensuring that expensive commercial kits and reagents aren’t lost due to temperature damage and staff time is used more productively in delivering our immunology service.

Andy Moran, Chief Biomedical Scientist, Central Manchester University Hospitals

St. Vincents University Hospital

The Kelsius system has provided reliable temperature monitoring in 90 medication fridges across the hospital and makes 24hr monitoring in all areas possible.

It has ensured rapid response to deviation from recommended temperatures and provided important data about fridges and allows trends to be identified. In the future we hope to expand our monitoring system to include room temperature and humidity monitoring.

The potential maximum financial savings within the three month period 01/12/2016 to 28/02/2017 was approximately €120,000 (if all stock involved had to be discarded).

Caitriona Reilly & Paul Tighe, Pharmacy Department, St. Vincents University Hospital St. Vincents University Hospital CoolCheck Case Study

Forth Valley Royal Hospital

We have utilised Kelsius since the commissioning of the Aseptic and Pharmacy in 2010.".

The reason for the choice of the Kelsius system was the need to minimise risk of loss of pharmaceutical products to temperature deviation and the requirement for a system that was user friendly, provided requirements stipulated by the MHRA and one that could easily be incorporated within our Quality Management System.

We have sensors (temperature and humidity) throughout our Aseptic unit in all locations were drugs are stored and prepared. We also utilise sensors within our automated robot storage and dispensing unit, within our Unlicensed Medicines Room, Clinical Trial Room, Controlled Drugs Room, within all refrigerators / freezers and within the Pharmacy Stores areas.

The sensors have also allowed Pharmacy to be proactive and reactive to any temperature deviations, allowing stock to be relocated and reducing the financial impact of the loss of high value refrigerated products and the affect that this would have to patient safety/patient treatment.

The actual system is user-friendly and weekly reports, graphs and reports can be accessed and interrogated thoroughly. We have experienced an excellent, proactive and friendly customer service throughout. Kelsius staff are always professional, approachable and keen to assist with any issues, queries or future project work.

Calibration certificates are traceable to a UKAS Certificate.

Forth Valley was the first site in Scotland to utilise Kelsius. We have recommended Kelsius to other NHS Health Boards and Pharmacies and would continue to do so in the future."

Daniel Kelly, Quality Assurance, Forth Valley Royal Hospital

Abertawe Bromorganwg HB

“We installed the Kelsius temperature monitoring system in the Blood Transfusion Departments across the Abertawe Bromorganwg HB in 2011. Since that time the system have paid for itself multiple times over.

The system provides 24 hour temperature monitoring of all temperature controlled unit protecting around 500 units of blood and tens of thousands pounds worth of blood products. It allows us to become aware of any potential issue before it becomes a problem so we can be proactive in dealing with it.

The offsite facility is a major benefit and offers us great flexibly. We can access our records from any web enabled device via the Kelsius Web portal. The ability to include monitoring of satellite fridges and are at various locations greatly streamlines our procedures, allowing for better management centrally.

Both the system itself and the web portal are very user-friendly and allows us to follow best practices. The end result of all this is that we can further underline the safety of product that we provide our patients and can show complete transparency to audits.

I would highly recommend the Kelsius system to anyone who currently has a need for temperature monitoring."

Barbara Sullivan, Bloodtransfusion Manager, Abertawe Bro Morganwg University Health Board, Wales

Letterkenny General Hospital

"When faced with cold chain failure, the system on an annual basis more than pays for itself contributing significantly to product quality assurance and overall patient safety".

Colm Devine, Chief Pharmacist, Letterkenny General Hospital Letterkenny General Hospital CoolCheck Case Study

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells

"We have installed the Kelsius temperature monitoring system throughout the Pharmacy and Aseptic Departments at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospital Sites.

The reason for the choice of Kelsius system was to replace Min/Max temperature loggers with a state of the art web based temperature monitoring system. The new system was aimed to improve quality control of pharmaceutical products, reduce risk of product loss due to temperature deviations, minimise human errors to save operational time and record temperature 24x7/365 days, alert designated members of staff in the event of a temperature excursion and comply with legislative and regulatory requirements. The Kelsius temperature monitoring system meets all our requirements and expectations.

We have Kelsius sensors to record product and air temperature throughout our Pharmacy Dispensing areas, Clinical Trial rooms and Aseptic units where drugs are stored and prepared. We also utilise sensors within our automated Robot storage and dispensing unit, within our Unlicensed Medicines room and Controlled Drugs room, within all refrigerators / freezers and within the Pharmacy Store areas.

The robust alarm alert system(SMS/e-mail/flashing beacon/audible) allows us to take corrective actions well on time allowing stock to be relocated and thus reducing financial impact of the loss of high value refrigerated products.

Kelsius web portal is user-friendly and offers on-site/off-site access to real time temperature data, weekly reports, graphs and allows complete auditing of temperature data and has the provision to add more sensors. Calibration Certificates are traceable to a UKAS Certificate.

With Kelsius in place, we have increased confidence in product quality and patient safety. Moreover the digital temperature monitoring system has already paid for itself since installation by helping save time and reducing product loss."

Satish Kumar, Pharmacy Technician - Clinical Trials, Kent Oncology Centre, Maidstone Hospital

Torbay and South Devon Trust

“The Kelsius system has allowed us peace of mind that our fridges and incubators are being monitored in real time and let us know when they deviate from the allowed parameters.

We have installed Kelsius throughout our Pharmaceutical facility to cover all units including ambient monitoring of our Warehouse.

Live and historical Data is available at all times which allows us to cover any inspections and audits carried out.

Follow up service is excellent and an annual service is included.

Highly recommended by our team.”

Dr Alison Webber, Head of Microbiology, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

Murray Pharmacies

"We have Kelsius temperature monitoring system in all our Pharmacies for a number of years now. Professional standards are raised using this system and it offers great peace of mind knowing my fridges and stock are being continuously monitored. This helps protect my business as I know all stock is maintained within correct temperature thresholds or else I will be alerted. This means I can protect against stock loss and the pain and cost that comes with an incident. The system also removes the need to manually check the temperature reducing my workload. Kelsius also monitor the humidity in Fridges which is off huge importance."

“The Kelsius system does all this while at the same time saving me around one working day per month which I can put to effective use in my business. I would highly recommend the Kelsius system to any retail pharmacy.”

Tom Murray, Managing Director, Murray Pharmacies

Inish Pharmacy

"We have the system in all 3 of our pharmacies and it has helped see a good cost benefit. It helps maintain professional standards with minimal workload. It is easy to use. We have great peace of mind and reassurance that we can safe guard against temperature and humidity variations and stock loss. The long term benefits of this system are far greater than the small cost involved and I would highly recommend it. It is a great system.".

Colin Deeny, Managing Director, Inish Pharmacy