Patients could one day keep a close eye on their condition with a smartcard that will allow them to perform blood tests at home.

A high-tech device, which could allow people with conditions such as diabetes and high cholesterol to perform the home-tests, is being developed by a UK company.

In the future, the technology could even be used to test for prostate cancer or osteoporosis.

The card's developers, SmartSensor telemed Ltd, say that in addition to the convenience of performing tests at home, patients will receive results more quickly and the data could be fed directly into electronic patient records.

Technology of this kind may play an important part in diabetes management in the future

Diabetes UK spokesman

The company is headed by James Jackson, who came up with the idea for the cards in the mid-90s.

Pregnancy tests became available from chemists, and the idea of sending home blood tests in the post to labs was being mooted.

But there were concerns blood would degrade in transit, affecting test results.

Under the Smartsensor system, the patient carries out a test at home with the credit-card sized device.

A microchip records the result and can then be removed and sent off for testing, removing the need to send blood in the post.

The test results could then be entered directly to a patient's electronic record.

Innovations award

The diabetes card is the first to be developed. It has a sensor which is an enzyme called glucose oxydase which 'eats' glucose.

As the enzyme eats the glucose, it creates an electronic signal which is recorded by the chip, the size of which indicates glucose levels. The chip can then be read in a laboratory.

The device won an award at the recent Medical Futures Innovations Awards.

Mr Jackson said: "I began to think about how you could do a test at home but with laboratory technology."

"How, if you had a way of somebody doing a test at home, with access to laboratory standard testing, you could eliminate the need to go to hospital for the tests."

Clinical trials

He added: "We are looking at selling the diabetes test for well under �10. I want it to be widely available, so groups such as the elderly can access it."

It is hoped to run a clinical trial of the device later this year.

Mr Jackson said, if sufficient funding was found, the device could be available to the public by the end of next year.

"I also envisage a card for men, which could check for cholesterol levels, diabetes and prostate cancer and one for women which could check cholesterol levels, diabetes and osteoporosis as a yearly health check," he said.

A spokesman for Diabetes UK told BBC News Online: "Regular monitoring is a vital part of controlling diabetes.

"Technology of this kind may play an important part in diabetes management in the future, providing greater freedom for people with diabetes and those providing their care."