GS1 Barcodes Information

From 2020, our product labels will include GS1 Barcodes. This is an information page to help explain the barcodes a little more.

What is a GS1 Barcode?

Everyone comes into contact with a GS1 barcode almost every day of our lives even if we don’t realise it, for example in supermarkets, retail and food outlets. GS1 barcodes are a global standard that can be scanned electronically to encode a product identification number to identify companies and its products. This makes it easier to track, process or store them. GS1 barcodes get scanned more than six billion times every day.

Why GS1?

The global GS1 system is about identifying, capturing and sharing information to make the supply chain more efficient and effective. Within the healthcare environment, the standards are also designed to improve product traceability and patient safety. With the GS1 company prefix we can identify Daniels Healthcare as the brand owner and each product gets its own “fingerprint”.

Why now?

All NHS suppliers must adopt GS1 standards which will in turn increase efficiencies and significantly improve the quality and safety of care within the NHS. GS1 is helping the NHS to transform itself and we want to play our part in that change and innovation.

What are the benefits?

GS1 Standards:

  • enable safety
  • enable efficiency
  • promote visibility
  • increase the amount of accurate, real-time data available for decision making
  • enable collaboration
  • facilitate better control over distribution and storage.

For more information, feel free to have a browse through the Healthcare GS1 website, or to read more about the NHS’s #Scan4Safety programme – have a look at the Scan4Saftey website.

All of our product labels, as of January 2020 have a GS1 Barcode on them.
You can read more about how our labels have been updated here.