A skin pricking apparatus comprising a casing (1), a lancet (15) located within the casing, a firing button (9) arranged to transfer a user applied force to the lancet (15) to drive the lancet through the casing (1), and lancet retaining means (12, 13, 23a, b) arranged to substantially prevent movement of the lancet (15) through the casing 1 until the user applied force exceeds a predefined threshold force.
