CUTTING edge technology is monitoring patients with life threatening illnesses in their own homes.

The pilot project, called Telehealth, has led to a dramatic drop in emergency hospital admissions, saving more than £48,000 in the first year.

Specialist equipment measures blood pressure, oxygen levels, weight and temperature every day.

Patients also answer a series of questions asked by the system, which then submits their results to a monitoring centre.

If any problems are identified, a community nurse is alerted and the patient can be visited promptly and given advice.

Carole Evans, aged 59, of Ditton, Widnes, who has brittle asthma, says the system has transformed her life.

She said: “It was confidence building and reassuring that I could check up on myself in my own home.

“It also meant I was’t going into hospital seven times a year anymore, once or twice. I wasn’t in as long as I wasn’t in a serious condition when I did go in, three hours instead of six or 10 days.”

The Telehealth system also acts as an early warning.

Carole, said: “I could ring my kids and tell them myself I’m going into hospital, walking rather than being stretchered in unconscious.”

The system even saved her life.

Carole, added: “A chest X-ray showed a ghost image on my chest. They discovered it was lung cancer.The good thing was that it was detected so early.

“Had I not been on Telehealth and gone into hospital for a check-up, I may never have picked it up.”

As a result of the early diagnosis, Carole has had four cycles of chemotherapy and has been given the all-clear.

Telehealth is being run in parts of Halton by Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust.