Care of patient belongings and valuables is a legal responsibility for NHS Trusts, under the Health and Social Care Act (2008) who must take active steps to protect patients’ interests. Although hospitals discourage patients from bringing personal possessions into the hospital, many need accessories such as mobile phones, hearing aids, and dentures during their in-patient stay.

Patients admitted with serious illness or trauma, in a confused or unconscious condition, may also be in possession of smaller valuable items, such as jewellery, money and phones, or larger items such as laptops, at the point of admission. Also, some patients may be defined as lacking the capacity to care for their own possessions under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, while those who sadly passed away in hospital may have personal belongings that need to be returned to family.

Patient property must be removed for safekeeping, but how can hospitals ensure that possessions are retained safely?

How can hospitals keep patients’ possessions safe?

At TSG Associates we’ve devised the SmartSafe™ Patient Property Bag to support hospitals with patient property management. The SmartSafe™ Patient Property Bag is the safe and secure solution for the safekeeping of patient belongings; equally in emergency evacuations for critical possessions, which have a positive impact on patient care during the evacuation process e.g. insulin for diabetic patients.

SmartSafe™ Patient Property Bags are:

• An optimal size to store valuable possessions such as jewellery, dentures, glasses, hearing aids, shoes, and clothes.
• Extremely secure once sealed, so items cannot accidentally fall out.
• Tamperproof to prevent expensive belongings from being stolen.
• Traceable, featuring a barcode that can be scanned by hospitals with the appropriate equipment, linking patients to property.

SmartSafe™ Patient Property Bags: Proving their worth during the pandemic

SmartSafe™ Patient Property Bags have been widely used by hospitals before and increasingly so, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when large volumes of patients were passing through hospitals, with many acknowledging that keeping track of patients’ personal possessions was an increasing problem.

They also proved to be invaluable in helping staff to return property to loved ones when patients died, helping reduce the mental stress and anguish for both next of kin and staff alike, caused when property goes missing in hospital.

To improve your hospital’s patient property management, get in touch

If you would like to improve your hospital’s property management, to offer a safe way for patients to store their possessions, invest in SmartSafe™ Patient Property Bags. To find out more or obtain a free, no-obligation quotation, please contact TSG Associates today on 01422 557784.