iCount Surgical Safety - Seatbelt for Swabs

Ensuring Every Count, Protecting Every Patient

iCount Surgical Safety is redefining how hospitals prevent retained swabs. Our system adds smart, simple safety to every count.

iCount is an innovative swab tracking system – a physical checklist with optional AI technology that facilitates WHO checklists and UK national safety standards (NatSSIPs 2) in childbirth and surgery to prevent swab retention

iCount is transforming surgical procedures with innovative technology to eliminate retained swabs, protect lives, and enhance healthcare outcomes.

Smarter Surgical Safety Starts Here

The Problem & The iCount Solution

The Problem – “Never Events” That Should Never Happen

Retained surgical items, especially swabs during childbirth, are serious "Never Events" - preventable mistakes that carry heavy costs for patients, hospitals, and clinicians alike:

NHS England Data shows maternity settings experience the highest rate of swab retention.
Swab retention events happen a week in the NHS.
1 in 8 procedures have swab count discrepancies.
88% of cases occur despite "correct" counts being registered.
Existing tech (RFID/barcodes are expensive and hence underused)

The iCount Solution – Intelligent, Affordable, Effective

iCount is a precision tracking solution built to eliminate human error in surgical swab management, especially during childbirth. Designed with practicality and affordability in mind:

Real-time tracking to eliminate manual count discrepancies
Much more cost effective than RFID or barcode alternatives
Prevents re-intervention, improves patient safety, and reduces legal risk
Easy to integrate with existing hospital protocols and systems

iCount is not just a tool. It's a safeguard against tragedy and a smarter standard of care.

Learn More About iCount.

Key Features

Accuracy

Early evaluations (BMJ Innovations, 2024) show improved accuracy and confidence in swab counts. Randomised clinical evaluation will soon take place in the NHS (NCT06570304 and NCT05373342)

Compliance

Supports Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSSIB 2024) guidance to prevent Never Events through engineered systems and tools compared to human memory-based systems alone.

Precision

Delivers high accuracy in simulation, aligning with WHO strategy for patient safety, making it easy for staff ‘to do the right thing’ (BMJ)

Clinician-Centric Design

Co-designed by medical and human factors experts. Reflects HSSIB and WHO priorities- increasing systems-resilience and human reliability

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).

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Join the Future of Surgical Safety

iCount is the solution to prevent retained surgical swabs

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 a retained swab directly contributed to a patient’s death. Explore the data. Drive safer care.