New state of the art technology has been brought to Royal Bolton Hospital to help staff tackle diabetes in the most innovative ways possible.

The new Nova StatStrip glucometer device will allow healthcare staff to get results for blood glucose and ketones test direct from patients’ fingertips to their electronic records.

This has already been brought in at the emergency department, critical care unit and diabetes ward, with manager saying it will be rolled out across the hospital in the coming days.

Point of care testing service lead Chris Cockcroft said: “This project aims to bring the latest and most innovative systems to Bolton so we can deliver the best testing service possible.”

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust says that the next phase of this project will be integration of the hospital devices into the electronic patient record.

A similar off-line device is also being used by the Trust’s community teams to support monitoring and treatment decisions in community clinics and at patients’ homes.

Point of care testing section manager Emma James said: “We have selected a system which uses the same glucose test strips in both hospital and community services.”

Trust managers say that this will allow staff to be at the forefront of digital healthcare across the borough.