Conversely, if you do not have a POCT committee, few
people in your Trust will know what POCT is, why it is
done and what the training, clinical governance,
clinical risk etc issues are.My POCT committee started
with 3 members in 1996, comprising the Consultant
Chemical Pathologist, Director of Nursing and a
Consultant Paediatrician. They lobbied fiercely for a
POCT manager and I was appointed in 1997, and wrote
the Trust POCT policy.The POCT committee was recently
merged with the Medical Devices Committee, and now
comprises over 30 members on a very broad
multi-disiplinary, multi-interest basis.

You have to fight for what you get these days I'm
afraid, and nobody is going to hand you anything on a
plate. Are you involved in any way with Investing in
Your Health? This initiative is looking at POCT
provision in primary care and at Surgicentres, DTCs
etc and has money, so is a good place to start saying
that it cannot be adequately implemented without a
POCT manager.I wish you good luck.
Jan
--- Wayne Bradbury
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> We are in a very similar position.
> We organise a monthly distribution of a sample to
> monitor 250 glucose
> meters and maintain blood gas analysers on our
> maternity unit and SCBU.
> We do not, however, have the staff resources to
> implement the Joint
> Working Party guidelines on PoCT in full e.g we
> don't organise training.
> 
> (So although the lab is accredited we are not
> accredited by CPA for
> PoCT). 
> There is a quite a lot of PoCT we currently have no
> control over e.g.
> urine dipstick tests, HCG tests in A/E, INR testing
> in GP surgeries,
> cholesterol testing in occupational health,
> blood gas analysis on ITU.
> 
> We need  a PoCT co-ordinator (BMS grade 2 or 3 ) to
> cover our two
> hospitals (40 miles part) with a population of
> 300.000.
> Despite a business case pointing our CPA JWG
> requirements, MHRA
> guidance, RCPath guidance, clinical governance
> needs, risk management
> issues etc 
> our Trust will not fund the post.
> 
> We do not have a PoCT committee as I've taken the
> view that it would be
> unlikely to achieve anything without the critical
> PoCT appointment being
> in place.
> 
> I cannot see how labs can take responsibilty for
> PoCT without the
> resources to do it.
> 
> Wayne Bradbury 
> 
>    
> 
> Mr. W.H. Bradbury
> Consultant Biochemist
> Cumberland Infirmary
> CARLISLE
> CA2 7HY
> 
> Telephone:  01228 814521
> Facsimilie:    01228 814831
> E-mail:         
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> >>> Helen Archer <[log in to unmask]>
> 20/09/05 09:10:45
> >>>
> Assuming you have a co-ordinator to feed back to!
> Despite our best efforts our Trust has not funded a
> POCT co-ordinator.
> We
> have a POCT committee and support POC blood gas
> analysis but
> cannot/will not
> do more without funding for additional staffing. 
> I would be interested to know how many other labs
> are in a similar
> position.
> 
> 
> Helen Archer
> Lead BMS
> Clinical Biochemistry
> Royal Gwent Hospital
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
> Of IAN WATSON
> Sent: 16 September 2005 16:49
> To: [log in to unmask] 
> Subject: Re: PoCT EQA & CPA
> 
> 
> It may well be MHRA device adverse reports will
> influence matters.
> 
> It would be useful though if lab POCT co-ordinators
> documented all
> incidents in their patch and fed these to a
> database; at least we'd
> have
> some 'evidence' of how well or poorly POCT is being
> done.
> 
> If POCT can be done to a satisfactory standard
> consistently then this
> has to be a 'good thing'. N'est pas?
> 
> Ian Watson
> 
> 
> >>> Graham Beastall <[log in to unmask]>
> 09/16/05 3:14 pm
> >>>
> Perhaps I could refer readers to my article on pages
> 62-64 of the July
> issue of the RCPath Bulletin.  This is a very
> topical issue and
> thought
> is being given to it by DH, CPA and other
> stakeholders. Some form of
> EQA
> will be essential and accreditation for POCT will be
> required but it
> is
> unlikely to be an extension of CPA laboratory
> accreditation (as we
> know
> it) for that implies that a laboratory will have to
> be overseeing
> every
> POCT service that is offered. I know that CPA are
> considering options
> but they are (rightly) not going to offer any kind
> of licensing or
> accreditation without full discussion with all
> stakeholders and proper
> resourcing. We should wait for DH to respond and in
> the mean time we
> should refer any adverse incidents with POCT to MHRA
> - as recommended
> in
> the Bulletin article.
> 
> One other point of interest is that voting is
> currently under way on
> an
> ISO Guide to POCT, which will probably end up as
> being an addendum to
> ISO 15189 to which CPA standards are benchmarked. 
> The difficulty with
> the new ISO Guide on POCT is that the scope of POCT
> is less than that
> being considered in this mailbase discussion.
> 
> Graham Beastall
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of Taylor, Richard
> Sent: 16 September 2005 14:10
> To: [log in to unmask] 
> Subject: Re: PoCT EQA & CPA
> 
> You got predictable answers, Wayne.
> 
> So, we have our labs regulated to the hilt
> internally, with nobody but
> us
> really interested or understanding the complexities,
> but as a
> profession
> we
> are failing to regulate, or 'build a service
> responsive to patients'
> for
> POCT in our own hospitals in clinical areas, where
> there is far less
> regulation and consistency of practice, but a clear
> need. 
> 
> The existing lab-centred CPA system has not even
> been a useful lever
> to
> influence POCT practice in our own hospitals.  It
> could have been a
> useful
> adjunct to the leverage available through
> developments in Clinical
> Governance.  The present CPA scheme is not specific
> on POCT
> requirements,
> (with the implication that it is not important),
> which diminishes our
> authority to change practice or argue for resources
> in our
> organisations.
> 
> In response to Jonathan's question, a separate CPA
> scheme for
> regulating
> POCT on our hospital sites, community hospitals,
> DTCs and GP surgeries
> would
> be valuable step forward.  It may as well be
> separate because the
> 
=== message truncated ===


Mrs. J. Still,
POCT Manager,
Biochemistry Dept,
Watford General Hospital. 01923-217998.
The views expressed in this message are personal and do not reflect West Herts NHS Hospitals Trust policy.


		
___________________________________________________________ 
How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday 
snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

------ACB discussion List Information--------
This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical
community working in clinical biochemistry.
Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed
via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and
they are responsible for all message content.

ACB Web Site
http://www.acb.org.uk
List Archives
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html
List Instructions (How to leave etc.)
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/