Full suit of products in the Accu-Chek Instant blood glucose monitoring system.
Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and diabetes care under one roof makes Roche a leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.
Roche Diabetes Care has been bringing forward innovative diabetes technologies and services for more than 40 years to support people with diabetes and those at risk to achieve more time in their target ranges and experience relief from the demands of having to submit to daily therapy routines. It has a long and trusted heritage in blood glucose monitoring.
Being a global leader in integrated Personalised Diabetes Management (iPDM), Roche Diabetes Care collaborates with thought leaders around the globe to transform and advance care provision and foster sustainable care structures. Under the brands RocheDiabetes, Accu-Chek and mySugr, Roche Diabetes Care unites with its partners to create patient-centred value.
The point of Roche’s Diabetes Care Platform (RDCP) is to improve integration between people with diabetes (PWDs) and their healthcare professional teams (HCPs), with a view to providing greater personalisation back to each individual diabetic. The tagline in Roche’s fun new videos on all its technologies says, ‘doing now what patients need next’.
Instant access
As part of this strategy, the company is introducing a new blood glucose meter (BGM) to its existing Accu-Chek strange. Called the Accu-Chek Instant, it integrates with Roche’s smartphone mySugr app, which sends information via the cloud directly to the RDCP installed in GP surgeries and hospital clinics where it can be accessed by HCPs. At the moment, there are a few pilot schemes of the platform taking place in the UK, as each country requires certain local adaptations, which will be made following feedback from the pilot studies.
Accu-Chek instant blood test meter
Feedback is also the name of the game when it comes to improving anyone’s diabetes care. With the new meter, a person is involved in a ‘feedback loop.’ The person with diabetes does a test, the result go to the mySugr app, information then goes directly via the cloud to the RDCP, where it can be accessed by HCPs who can then give personalised feedback to that user. Integration helps support useful conversations with HCPs who can make suggestions on additional training for the person and give tips to as to how best utilise the equipment and the data it generates.
The Accu-Chek Instant joins other meters in the Accu-Chek range: the Mobile, Performa, Aviva and Aviva Expert. The company also has resources to help people understand structured blood glucose monitoring. The newest meter will initially be available from HCPs, with a view to possibly being in high street pharmacies by the end of the year for anyone who wants to buy one.
Going Solo
Roche launched its Accu-Chek Solo patch pump about a year ago and remains part of the choice of pumps that the company offers. As with any new product it took time to ensure there was enough product available in the country, training up healthcare professionals and having support in place for both HCP’s and people with diabetes with a backdrop of a pandemic, coming soon is new online portal, the Solo Academy, for online training and education for existing and future users. Thanks to the company’s philosophy of offering patient choice, there are three pumps in Roche Diabetes Care range, the older model is the Accu-Chek Combo, which was joined a few years ago by the Accu-Chek Insight and now the Accu-Chek Solo.
Academy support
Roche Diabetes Care has joined a cooperative partnership with the ABCD Diabetes Technology Network (DTN) and software company Glooko-Diasend in order to provide an e-learning platform for healthcare
The Accu-Chek Solo patch pump
professionals called Academy. The platform will provide educational content on a range of diabetes technologies with the hope that it will help to reduce variations among healthcare professionals in diabetes medical technology capabilities.
It is intended that clinics using this web-based education platform will improve patient care through a greater understanding of the technology, and increased utilisation of appropriate technologies. Dr Pratik Choudhary, chair of the DTN, commented: “It is fantastic to have a company on board like Roche that has a portfolio of really important products. I thank them for supporting this project that will provide easy-to-access educational resources for all healthcare professionals about diabetes technology.”
Michael Goetzl, Managing Director, Roche Diabetes Care UK & Ireland added, “We are delighted to support healthcare professionals in furthering their understanding of diabetes technology with this collaboration with Glooko-Diasend and DTN. By enhancing skills in the technology space we are also helping to reduce barriers to technology access for people with diabetes, ultimately improving their care.”
About Academy
It is hoped that the Academy platform will reduce barriers to the commissioning of innovation and technology in the future. Several NHS trusts have been reluctant to offer technology solutions, not understanding the value they bring to people living with diabetes. Benefits of using diabetes technologies such as CGM sensors and carb-counting apps, as examples, include improved HbA1c results which are linked with a reduced risk of long-term conditions, improved quality of life and a lessening of the burden of living with the condition.
DTN will provide guidance on content and they will ensure that the educational programme aligns with current and future NHSE policy/pathways. They will also ensure that the platform has the reporting capabilities needed to demonstrate clinical competencies that inform commissioning decisions.
The programme will be accessible to diabetes specialist healthcare professionals in the UK at no cost to the individual or the NHS, and the platform will remain agnostic to both diabetes device manufacturers and products. It will have the capability to certify that healthcare professionals have completed a course, alongside clinic-level reporting functionality to clearly demonstrate where the ABCD training has been completed in these technologies.
