My request pertains to the electronic system used to record patient blood sugar levels on Ward 11 at Heartlands Hospital

Questions: 

(a) In 2012/13, what is the total number of occasions on which the ward 11 staff have reported a problem or issue with the machinery, system or software either to the Trust IT department, to the company’s helpline or through Trust incident reporting.

None

(b) What is the total number of faults or issues reported in 2013 / 2014  to date by Ward 11 for this machinery, system or software

None

(c) Can you please provide the total number of reports of issues / problem for all wards in your Trust using this machine/software for 2012/13 and 2013/14 to date

In 2012/2013 there were 23 clinical incidents reported relating to Blood Glucose meters and the associated IT system.

In 2013/2014 (to date) there have been 4 reported clinical incidents.

None of these have been from Ward 11 at Heartlands.

(c) If possible please provide a summary of the types of problem or issue reported  (Trustwide)

The breakdown is as follows;

Failure to get a meter to work for glucose and/or ketone testing – 12 incidents (in none of these cases was the meter found to be faulty. Training issues were indentified as the root cause).

Failure to get a result due to IT issues – 2 incidents

Lack of availability of testing strips for glucose and/or ketones on the ward – 7 incidents

Insufficient staff trained in a ward or department – 3 incidents

? incorrect result (investigated but meter not faulty) – 1 incident

Failure of meter to register a new lot of glucose strips – 1 incident.

In addition since installation in September 2012, we have records of 61 meters being returned for repair.  None of these returns were from Ward 11 Heartlands.

We have a small team of staff supporting this equipment across all sites of the Trust.  We do not keep records of telephone queries.  There were no additional emails related to problems with these meters.