BASILDON Hospital is one of the leading centres for a programme which gives pocketsized monitors to patients at risk of blood clots to test their blood at home.

The £300 self-testing monitors are being issued to some patients who take the blood-thinning drug warfarin, so theyneed fewer visits to blood-testing clinics.

The hospital is now running one of the biggest self-testing programmes in the country, with six per cent of its 4,500 Warfarin patients taking part.

Roy Johnson, 65, says having one of the monitors has improved his life and he is so impressed he has appeared in a video, explain the benefits of the scheme to encourage others to take part.

He said: “The nurses give great support and encouragement, and it has given me more control of my life and more freedom. I sometimes travel to the USA and would not want to have to go for expensive blood tests there.”

Warfarin, the most commonly used anticoagulant, is prescribed for people with conditions, including irregular heartbeat, a malfunctioning heart valve and deep vein thrombosis.

If patients take too much, it can lead to bleeding, but if they have too little, they can suffer clots which can block blood vessels.

For this reason, patients need to have their blood monitored regularly to see how long it takes to clot, something which can be affected by their diet, travel or physical activity. Mr Johnson began taking warfarin in 2007 for an irregular heartbeat, while living in Wales.

He said: “Self-monitoring wasn’t available there. It was a hassle going to the local hospital for blood tests, and then waiting a few days after the appointment for a letter, telling me what my dose should be.

“I was visiting my parents in Essex and I had to come to Basildon Hospital for routine monitoring and realised they supported self-testing. I moved back here in 2010, and was very pleased to be put on the programme.”

To test themselves, patients prick a finger to get a spot of blood to go on a testing strip to measure clotting levels. This is fed into the monitor to get a reading, which the patient then phones or emails to the hospital.

Mr Johnson, who lives in Wickford and works at South Essex College, regularly tests his blood and adjusts his dose, based on advice from the nurses, though he still has to go to hospital every nine months to have the monitor checked for accuracy.

Russell Lee, lead anticoagulation nurse at Basildon Hospital, said: “If self-monitoring is suitable for the patient, it is a good way to improve safety. They are less likely to miss blood tests because of work or commitments.

“However, we don’t impose it on people and we give full support to all our patients.

“The programme is popular because it gives people more independence and reduces the time they spend travelling to and waiting for blood tests in clinics.”