Is my meter rubbish?

Do a control solution test (as per the manufacturers instructions) if doubting the accuracy, but I believe there's a bigger variation in bg readings the higher the bg levels.

Emmar said:

I just tested and got a reading of 15.8 on one hand and 12.1 on the other hand?! I noticed at the hospital the other day that my meter gave a reading 2.5 higher than the nurses machine also?! I have the Braun Omnitest 3. I've just spent £60 on strips (surgery is very stingey with prescriptions)

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I was thinking the same thing this morning...I have an Accu-Chek and although I am doing everything I should, I was 9.4 in the morning 6.2 in the afternoon and 12 at night. If I was eating normally, I dread to think ! Not sure if buy a meter was the right thing to do as it is making me paranoid lol

jziggy said:

I was thinking the same thing this morning...I have an Accu-Chek and although I am doing everything I should, I was 9.4 in the morning 6.2 in the afternoon and 12 at night. If I was eating normally, I dread to think ! Not sure if buy a meter was the right thing to do as it is making me paranoid lol

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Yes it is right, do a control solution test.

Emmar said:

I just tested and got a reading of 15.8 on one hand and 12.1 on the other hand?! I noticed at the hospital the other day that my meter gave a reading 2.5 higher than the nurses machine also?! I have the Braun Omnitest 3. I've just spent £60 on strips (surgery is very stingey with prescriptions)

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According to the ISO standard that all meters are required to meet, the accuracy for older meters is +/- 20% of reading for readings above 4.2mmol/L i.e. could be reading between 8 and 12 for an actual reading of 10 mmol/L. it gets worse the higher the actual reading so at 20 it become +/- 4. Next year new meters are required to meet stricter limits. I give you a link to where it is discussed in full TECHnicolour here on the site
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose-meters/iso-accuracy-standards.html

To make things worse, older meters used to be calibrated specifically for fingerprick testing, but some are now calibrating for plasma, and will read 12% higher than the older ones, This is not reflected in either the ISO or this site that I linked you to above. Check with your meter manufacturer to see if you need to subtract 12% to make your result compatible with the limits shown on this website i.e. NICE targets

@Administrator This is becoming an issue that needs to be reflected in the official DCUK datasheets asap.
@daisy1 Ditto for the Newbie startup sheet?