A. POCT within Secondary Care

Statistical analysis demonstrates that more GPs than ever before are referring elderly patients suffering with long-term conditions to the acute setting for monitoring and treatment. This in turn is increasing the pressure on hospitals to deliver a safe diagnosis whilst retaining quality of service to the patient. Monitoring is split between using laboratory services or using Point of Care devices in community settings. It is acknowledged that it would be better in practice both for the patient and for the hospitals to move much of this service into the community.

In order to achieve this goal a partnership needs to established between  the primary and secondary care settings. In effect a governing body must be established that oversees governance and quality assurance across the two services. It is logical that as expertise already exists within POCT teams at Trusts, it should be these teams in partnership with their Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) that provide the strategy of introducing POCT within the community they serve. This model introduces a service where the CCGs commission the service from the Trust

Proposed Business Model within Secondary Care – Click on image to expand

Index

• A. POCT team must have strong executive support from within the Trust to have the authority to implement changes to current practices and procedures and be able to dictate POCT governance
• B. The team will be clinically lead with a POCT Manager overseeing governance and quality assurance
• C. Strong partnership with IM&T in delivering solutions to capturing POCT results with a variety of technical equipment
• D. Pharmacy to procure consumables for POCT devices.
• E. Large gains to be made in joint procurement of testing equipment and consumables
• F. CPA/ISO accreditation although optional is highly recommended.
• G. Can be linked to CPA.
• H. POCT Board governing how POCT is delivered with Primary and Secondary care
• I. Service Level Agreement (SLA) essential between all stakeholders at Trust level involved in the delivery POCT within secondary care