Described herein is a vascular access port device (300) which provides both blood monitoring and providing access to a vascular element (200) implanted within a hemodialysis patient. The device (300) comprises a body (310) connectable to the vascular element (300) at one end thereof, and a cartridge (330) mounted within the body (310). The cartridge (330) comprises an electrode set (375) arranged on a distal end (340a) of a septum (340) for sensing blood chemistry, associated electronics (360, 365, 370) for processing signals sensed by the electrode set (375), and inductive antenna arrangement (380, 400) for transmitting the processed signals to a remote location.
