The Lancashire Cardiac Centre, based at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, is set to benefit from a new cardiac device which will help with the care of patients with mechanical valves.

The Trust will be the first in the UK to use the ThromboCheck device, which has the potential to enable home-monitoring of heart valve prostheses.

With the help of the device, valve problems like blood clots can be detected early.

To date, only patients in Germany and Israel have benefited from this piece of equipment.

Dr Jerzy Wojciuk, Cardiology Research Registrar, said: "This device will really benefit patients at the hospital.

"It will give additional and complementary information to the current devices used and it will, in the longer term, help to prevent hospital admissions and visits to clinics for patients.

"It will also greatly increase patient confidence, as patients are able to help with their own care and monitor their own well-being."

The Trust has purchased five of the devices, all of which will be distributed to patients as part of a pilot scheme devised by Dr Jerzy Wojciuk, Mr Augustine Tang and Dr Ranjit More.

The equipment is placed on the chest by the patient to directly test the valve implant and the result is clearly shown on the display.

The patient will only need to contact the hospital if the display indicates that there is a problem.

The Lancashire Cardiac Centre provides heart and lung treatment to the residents of Lancashire and Cumbria.

The £52million centre is the biggest development that the hospital has seen in its history.