iCount - The Safety Belt for surgical swabs

Ensuring Every Count, Protecting Every Patient

iCount is a simple surgical swab docking system that helps clinical teams visually account for every swab throughout the procedure. Surgical swabs are also called surgical sponges in some countries.

It's a small physical checklist device with optional AI technology that facilitates compliance with WHO checklists and UK national safety standards (NatSSIPs 2) in childbirth and surgery to prevent swab retention.

This innovative patented technology is designed to eliminate retained swabs, protect lives, and enhance healthcare outcomes.

☕ The physical iCount device costs around a cup of coffee.
A small cost for an additional layer of patient safety.

🏥 News — Now being used and evaluated at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust.
More details to follow...

The Problem & The iCount Solution

The Problem – “Never Events” That Should Never Happen

NHS England Data shows maternity settings experience the highest rate of swab retention.
Swab retention events happen a week in the NHS and there is associated litigation
1 in 8 procedures have swab count discrepancies.
88% of cases occur despite "correct" counts being registered. Staff are also affected.
Existing tech (RFID/barcodes is expensive) or swab-counters in non-sterile space are bulky and dont have a way of matching the starting count

The iCount Solution – Intelligent, Affordable, Effective

Real-time tracking to eliminate manual count discrepancies
Easy to integrate with existing hospital protocols and systems
Prevents re-intervention, improves patient safety, reduces legal risk and overall costs
Cost - effective, within the sterile space, the start count is also accountable as the device number matches the starting swab count

Product details

What Staff think - iCount makes it feel so Safe

Key Features

Accuracy

Early evaluations (BMJ Innovations, 2024) show improved accuracy and confidence. Randomised clinical evaluation to be done soon in the NHS (NCT06570304 and NCT05373342)

Compliance

WHO strategy for patient safety, Supports Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSSIB 2024) and National Safety Standards in Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPs) guidance compared to existing human memory-based systems.

Cost-effective

Physical device available at the cost of a cup of coffee.
York Health economics consortium showed an at least 3:1 return on investment. Business case by Nottingham University shows cost-savings

Human Factors based intervention

Co-designed - medical and human factors experts .
System Engineering Patient Safety(SEIPS framework). Patient Public involvement. Won an award at the International Chartered Institute of Human Factors Conference in UK 2024

Ease of Integration

Extensive usability testing done by NIHR Healthtech Research Centre, University Hospitals Birmingham. Users believe iCount to be a viable alternative to manual counting with greater time efficiency and perceived safety (BMJ,2024).
helps staff ‘to do the right thing’ (BMJ). Time efficiency demonstrated

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Never Events Across the UK, How Rare are They

This live map shows reported retained swab Never Events across NHS England. Red crosses mark cases where this directly contributed to a patient’s death. Explore the data. Drive safer care.

Deaths

3+ Cases

3 Cases

2 Cases

1 Cases

Note: Based on NHS England reporting. For awareness and learning purposes.

An international agency has conducted a full life-cycle analysis showing that the product itself reduces carbon emissions through patient safety and process changes. In addition, we also compensate for the estimated greenhouse gas manufacturing-related emissions through independently verified carbon offset projects. Overall, this is not just carbon neutral but has a positive climate impact.

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