Point of Care Testing
What is Point-of-Care Testing?
Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) can be defined as any analytical test performed for a patient by a non-laboratory healthcare professional outside the conventional laboratory setting. They can be found in a wide range of clinical settings, including primary and secondary care, pharmacies, and community services.
Although point-of-care tests cover a wide range of analytes, the devices are typically:
- Simple to use, with a minimal number of steps required to perform the test
- Reliable and robust
- Require simple, patient-friendly sample collection i.e. fingerprick, urine, or nasal swab
Services Provided
The South of Tyne and Wear POCT team manage POCT devices across the region for Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, and Community Nursing and Community Dental services.
The tests provided by the POCT team include:
- Blood gas analysis
- Blood glucose
- Blood ketones
- Haemoglobin
- Full Blood Count
- INR
- Influenza A/B and SARS-CoV-2 Ag
- Urinalysis
Reference Ranges
All reported numerical results are accompanied by an appropriate Reference Range where this is applicable. This is often related to age and sex but is always a population range and not an individual range.
Adult reference ranges are given in the Tests section where appropriate.
Even if the result is within the limits quoted it may be inappropriate for a given disease state and so if in doubt please contact the Duty Biochemist.
Service Aim
The aim of the South of Tyne and Wear POCT team is to ensure a high quality reliable service which both patient and service users can rely upon. This is achieved in a number of ways
- Interacting with service users
- Taking on board service feedback
- Standardisation and management of Point of Care services across SoTW
- Ensuring the most suitable technologies for the purposes of Point of Care Testing
- Providing day to day management, IQC and EQA monitoring, user management and co-ordination of training for all POCT devices
In addition to this the department is accredited to ISO 15198:2022. Our full scope of accreditation is published on the UKAS website.
Contact Details
The POCT team is available Monday – Friday between 9am and 5pm (excluding bank holidays).
Queen Elizabeth Hospital: 0191 445 3195
Sunderland Royal Hospital: 0191 569 9051
South Tyneside District Hospital: 0191 404 1283
Email: ghnt.poct.support@nhs.net
Outside of these hours, please email or leave a message and the team will get back to you the next working day. For urgent enquiries, please contact the Biochemistry department.
Staff Information
The Point-of-Care Testing Policy can be found by here
For information relating to POCT devices, including training and competency assessment, staff can access the POCT SharePoint page here
South of Tyne & Wear Pathology Centre
