SUMMARY. Near patient testing for glucose is now a widely accepted procedure in hospital wards and clinics. However, in a neonatal ward where the detection of hypoglycaemia rather than hyperglycaemia is of paramount importance, it is more difficult to find a suitable glucose monitoring instrument. We compared two Hemocue blood glucose analysers (Hemocue Ltd) in our special care baby unit (SCBU) with the laboratory procedures and found that the Hemocue may overestimate the glucose by as much as 2·5 mmol/L, In addition, Hemocue analysers are costly to run. We feel these analysers may be more useful in a general ward rather than in a SCBU. Additional key phrases: near-patient testing; point of care testing; paediatrics; hypoglycaemiaNear-patient testing of blood glucose by ward staff can be difficult, involving in-house training, stringent adherence to protocols, quality assurance and maintenance of instruments.