Point of Care Testing Programme

By providing external quality assessment for tests of blood coagulation carried out on instrument systems designed for Point of Care Testing (POCT), as part of the overall quality assurance, the programme aims to promote high standards of performance and practice, achieved with the UK NEQAS BC primary aim of education, by provision of independent, objective and impartial information.

INR Testing

• CoaguChek XS, CoaguChek XS Plus and CoaguChek Pro II INR Programme
• INR testing on the i-STAT device
• Xprecia Stride INR Programme

ACT Testing

• Hemochron Elite, Signature, Signature Plus | ACT+ and ACT-LR programme

• GEM Hemochron 100 | ACT+ and ACT- LR Pilot

• i-STAT1 (kaolin cartridge) | ACT Pilot

• i-STAT Alinity (kaolin cartridge) | ACT Pilot

D-Dimer Testing

• D-Dimer testing on the Cobas H232 device
• D-Dimer testing on the Triage device

Thromboelastometry/Thromboelastography Testing

• Testing on the ROTEM device
• Testing on the TEG device

The programme is open to all healthcare professionals, whether government supported, private or commercial concerns, at all sites, whether within or remote from hospital laboratories.

Participating centres in the INR programmes will be sent four surveys per year, each comprising two samples for INR determination. In the ACT programme, 3 distributions are scheduled per year. D-Dimer participants are sent 4 surveys per year, and ROTEM/TEG centres 2 surveys per year. The samples will be appropriate for the system registered and will be lyphilised human material which has been screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and for antibodies to hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (anti-HIV-1+2).