Pulse+IT interviews George Pecchiar, Executive Director, Peacock Bros.
Healthcare providers across Australia are under growing pressure to do more with existing resources. Workforce shortages, rising patient demand and increasing expectations around operational efficiency are forcing organisations to look closely at where time is being lost and how technology can help address it.
One area attracting renewed interest is Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), which use technologies such as RFID, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to provide visibility into the location and movement of equipment, assets and people across healthcare environments.
By helping staff quickly locate critical equipment and better understand how assets are being used, RTLS can reduce time spent searching for resources, support more efficient workflows and ultimately allow healthcare workers to spend more time focused on patient care.
As healthcare organisations seek new ways to improve productivity without compromising patient outcomes, RTLS is emerging as a practical tool for addressing long-standing operational challenges.
Pulse+IT spoke with George Pecchiar, Executive Director of Peacock Bros., about the factors driving renewed interest in the technology, the different approaches available to healthcare providers, and how RTLS is helping organisations make more informed decisions about assets, workflows and patient movement.
Hospitals have experimented with RTLS for years. Why is the conversation changing now?
The challenges facing healthcare providers today are different from those of a decade ago. Hospitals are managing workforce constraints, increasing patient volumes and ongoing pressure to improve productivity without compromising patient care.
One of the less visible issues is the amount of time clinicians and support staff spend searching for equipment. Whether it’s a wheelchair, portable monitor, infusion pump or workstation on wheels, every minute spent locating equipment is time that could be better spent supporting patients. When equipment isn’t easy to find, delays can occur, workflows become less efficient and staff develop workarounds, like holding onto equipment longer than necessary or maintaining larger asset pools than they actually need.
Healthcare organisations are increasingly recognising that improving visibility of critical assets can help reduce frustration for staff, support more efficient patient care and enable better use of existing resources.
Why has healthcare historically been slower to adopt RTLS than industries such as logistics or manufacturing?
Previously, there were three major barriers – cost, complexity and ongoing maintenance requirements. Many early RTLS deployments required significant infrastructure investment and could be difficult to justify without a clearly defined business case. Healthcare environments also present unique challenges, as organisations need solutions that integrate with existing workflows without disrupting clinical operations.
The good news is that the technology has matured considerably. Deployment costs have improved, wireless technologies have become more capable and there are now many successful healthcare and non-healthcare examples that organisations can learn from. As a result, the path to implementation is much less daunting than it once was.
Is RTLS primarily about asset tracking, or are there broader applications?
Asset tracking is often the first use case because the return on investment is relatively easy to understand.
Healthcare providers want visibility into where equipment is located, how frequently it’s being used and whether assets are sitting idle in storage areas. That information can help reduce unnecessary purchases, improve utilisation rates and minimise time spent searching for equipment.
However, the applications extend well beyond asset management. RTLS can support patient safety initiatives such as wander management, provide geofencing alerts when individuals enter restricted areas and help organisations better understand patient flow through different departments.
As healthcare providers become more familiar with the technology, they often identify additional opportunities to use location data to improve operational performance.
There are several RTLS technologies available. How should healthcare providers think about the different options?
The starting point should always be the problem you’re trying to solve. RFID, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Wi-Fi-based RTLS all have strengths depending on the use case. RFID is often effective for inventory visibility, storerooms and checkpoint-based tracking. BLE is increasingly popular for room or zone-level asset tracking because it offers good accuracy while remaining cost-effective to scale. Wi-Fi-based tracking can be attractive for organisations with strong existing wireless infrastructure.
Rather than asking which technology is best, healthcare providers should ask which technology best aligns with their operational objectives.
Are you seeing growing interest in RTLS within Australian healthcare specifically?
Absolutely. Healthcare leaders are under increasing pressure to improve operational performance while managing constrained resources. At the same time, we’re seeing greater recognition of the role that asset and patient tracking can play within modern healthcare environments.
There is also growing acknowledgement at a planning and governance level. For example, Western Australia’s 2025 Hospital Facility Guidelines specifically reference asset tracking and patient tracking systems as part of hospital planning considerations. These developments reflect a broader shift toward using data and visibility to support more informed operational decision-making.
For organisations considering RTLS, where should they start?
One of the biggest misconceptions is that RTLS requires a hospital-wide rollout from day one. In reality, the most successful projects usually begin with a clearly defined operational challenge and a relatively small pilot. Common starting points include wheelchairs, workstations on wheels, portable monitors or shared equipment pools where visibility is limited and the impact can be measured quickly.
The key is to focus on a use case that delivers tangible value. Once organisations can see measurable improvements in equipment utilisation, workflow efficiency or staff productivity, it becomes much easier to build a business case for broader adoption.
RTLS doesn’t have to be implemented across an entire hospital overnight. The most effective approach is often to start small, demonstrate value and scale over time.
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