ERRORS made in the NHS are being averted by an Ellesmere Port firm which tracks donated blood.

MSoft is helping hospitals across the UK to avoid the life-threatening blunder of transfusing the wrong blood type, one of 25 preventable incidents listed by the Government.

MSoft’s electronic blood tracking system BloodHound controls access to and from blood fridges, while the bedside management system allows each barcoded blood unit to be matched with the patient’s barcoded wristband in seconds.

The firm’s blood tracking solution provides positive identification of users and patients and in-depth auditing of all bloods across each and every stage of the transfusion process – to help get the right blood into the right patient.

Prime Minister David Cameron has previously hailed the MSoft blood tracking technology during a visit to Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust for its ‘technological sophistication’.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said funding can be held back from hospitals if the wrong blood transfusion is found to have occurred.

Medical errors have been calculated to cost the NHS more than £2bn a year.

Matt McAlister, managing director of MSoft, said: “Our systems achieve a number of key objectives, including reducing the number of staff needed to perform a transfusion and ultimately significant cost savings to the NHS.

“However, far and away the most important benefit, is the improvement our systems bring in terms of patient safety and security. Ultimately, this means helping to save lives.”

Among the NHS trusts MSoft is working with are Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust.