The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has installed Roche Accu-Chek® Inform II meters and cobas® IT 1000 point of care data management software, to improve management and quality control of its point of care blood glucose testing. 

The fully connected Accu-Check® Inform II meters are located throughout the hospital; in surgical units and on diabetes wards. The cobas® IT software allows access to all of these meters from a central location, and this management of patient data provides valuable information for the Point of Care testing team to ensure patient safety. 

“The Inform II meters were originally placed in critical care areas within the hospital as part of the ‘Safer Patients Initiative’, in which the Trust took part,” explains POCT Co-ordinator, Anita Jones. “Glycaemic control was one of the primary drivers in this project. We were able to monitor glucose measurements in critical care patients using cobas IT 1000 and to demonstrate that the performance of the Countess of Chester Hospital was good over the course of this trial.” 

“Now cobas IT 1000 links Inform II meters in our surgical units and diabetes wards,” Anita continues, “this connectivity allows real time access to the meters and provides central records for Internal Quality Control (IQC). We no longer have to visit each ward to audit IQC and compliance to policy. A QC lockout ensures that IQC is performed and acceptable, giving better control of the performance of the meters.” 

“The software keeps a record of all trained operators. Since the POCT team allocates individual passwords to all staff, we are informed of new operators and we can track the status of training records centrally. The system also allows patient records to be stored and accessed centrally, and provides valuable information on the number of tests performed. This has helped us to improve our blood glucose testing service, not only improving patient safety and patient care but also allowing us to work very efficently,” Anita concludes.