The NHS is through to begin trials of a pill containing a digestible microchip that reacts to stomach fluids.

The pill sends a message to a sensor in a sticking mortar on the patients shoulder. If this message is not admitted, the sensor sends a text message to the patient to jog the memory of them to take their medication.

The shoulder-mounted sensor is also able to monitor the patients heart-rate, and whether they repose up frequently while sleeping; an indication of fluid in the lungs, itself a potential side-effect of heart-failure.

It can use this information to counsel a change in the dose to the patient, or send a communication to carers about a change in the patients status.

NHS chiefs trust that the technology, known as the Raisin system, could improve the health of vulnerable patients and reduce costs by moving more of the trust to the end user.

The pills, from US company Proteus, resolution be trialled for four months on 40 NHS patients with core failure, at Imperial College Healthcare Trust in London and the Royal Berkshire Trust in Reading. If potent, a year-long trial will begin in 2011 to measure the effect of the technology on reducing hospital admissions.

A report in The Independent cited Nicholas Peters, professor of cardiology at Imperial College and a consultant to Proteus. He declared The whole idea of this technology is to inform patients encircling their own well-being, to encourage them to take the tablets and to take trust for their own health. It can help them stay stable and debar them getting on to the slippery slope that leads to hospitalisation.