Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) have developed a device that will enable doctors to monitor patients’ health from thousands of miles away and could make long stints in the GP’s waiting room a thing of the past.

The wireless, circular “bodysensor” patches have been designed to gather information on a patient’s heart rate, breathing, posture and gait.

This data is sent by radio signal to a monitoring unit on or near the patient’s body, such as a mobile phone. It is then transmitted through the phone network to a health professional’s phone or internet where the information can be assessed.

The hope is that the antennae patches could be worn on a continuing basis by patients and monitored centrally by their doctor, who will only contact them when appointments need to be made.

The antennae are 25mm in diameter and 5 to 13mm in width. Their size means they can be attached to any part of the body.

They are sufficiently low profile to be incorporated into clothing or worn as part of a wound dressing.

The three-year project, which has received £340,000 (€427,000) in funding from Britain’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), will conclude next July.

William Scanlon, head of the research team and director of the telecommunications programme at QUB, has been working on wireless sensor technology since 1994. He said it was now ready to replace unnecessary medical visits for tests and check-ups.

He described the technology as “fairly straightforward” and said it would take minimal effort to programme a patient’s mobile phone to act as the control unit.

If there was an active mass market for the antennae, they could cost less than £1 each to produce.

“We could change the way that a range of illnesses, injuries and conditions are monitored, perhaps within five years,” he said.

“I see a future with these wireless, disposable units. Nurses or healthcare workers will just rip the antennae out of a blister packet and stick them in the wound.

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