Clinical Pathology Accreditation for Point of Care Testing in Secondary and Primary Care Achieved

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is among the first sites in the UK to achieve Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA) for Point of Care Testing (POCT). The accreditation covers both connected and non-connected elements of the POCT service at the main Derriford Hospital site in Plymouth and, for the first time, it also includes community hospitals, hospital clinics and external clinics served by the Trust.

The POCT service for Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust has been in development since 2006. The POCT team currently includes a combination of biomedical scientists, associate practitioners and assistant technical officers dedicated to POCT and EQA.

CPA for POCT is an important indicator of quality, as Tony Cambridge, Section Lead for POCT and EQA at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, explained. “The POCT service should provide the same quality of service as the clinical laboratory,” he said. “CPA is regarded as the benchmark for quality, giving users confidence in the service they are procuring. It also ensures that patient safety is optimised.”

The scope of the CPA for POCT at Plymouth Hospitals includes: blood glucose testing, using both connected (Roche Accu-Chek® Inform II) and non-connected (Roche Accu-Chek® Performa) meters; urinalysis, including both automated/connected (Roche Urisys 1100®) and visual/non-connected (Roche Combur 7 test strips) reading of results; urine pregnancy testing; blood gas testing; haemoglobin testing.

“We decided to include everything in the scope for accreditation, even the non-connected elements,” commented Tony. “I also believe we are the first accredited site to include POCT at outlying sites, both within the Trust and within Primary Care. ”

“A large part of our POCT service is connected,” he continued. “We have 40 Roche Accu-Chek Inform II meters which are wireless-enabled and connected to the Roche POCT data management software, cobas® IT 1000. It is hoped that, in the future, all POCT equipment from different manufacturers will be managed through one open access system such as cobas IT 1000.”

For further information about the Roche Accu-Chek Inform II and Urisys systems and the cobas IT 1000 solution, please visit the Roche website.