A Brighton firm is hoping to bring space age medical technology to the NHS which it says will make patients better off in their homes than in hospital beds.

Moon Communications has created a system which lets nurses check the blood pressure, heart movement, pulse, core body temperature and respiration of their patients without ever being in the same room.

The patient stays at home wearing a wireless on patient interface (wopi) which transmits vital signs from their body to the local hospital over a normal telephone line.

Should they want to talk to a nurse they can sit in front of their television and use a video link to communicate.

The nurses sit at special, three-screen workstations with the patient's electronic notes and video image in front of them.

The wopi was developed by Nasa and is still worn by its astronauts.

The monitors which make up the system are also available as cheaper, standalone units. They are run from batteries and carry internal modems.

Patients can be given units according to their needs. Moon has recently developed laser technology which monitors glucose in the bloodstream without breaking the skin.

Diabetics, who need to inject insulin when their glucose levels become unbalanced, can have these levels remotely monitored.

They can even be connected to a source which automatically releases insulin into the bloodstream when required.

Professor John Stephenson, director of medical and professional affairs at Moon, calls this an artificial pancreas.

Moon's devices are already hard at work in America where private health organisations are happy to pay top dollar for the best service.

But how will Britain's cash-strapped health service shell out for space race technology?

Prof Stephenson says the equipment will save the State money.

The idea is putting remote monitoring technology in the home will save putting people in hospitals. It will keep the 'bed blockers' in their own beds.

Nurses can use it to check on patients without the expense of visiting them.

Patients prone to panicking and telephoning for an ambulance can be reliably reassured over the video link and some could be moved out of hospital beds early.

Moon's own research, based on a 200-bed hospital, claims the system could cut needless readmissions by 30 per cent and home visits by half.

Prof Stephenson estimates two workstations would be needed to cover Brighton and Hove at a cost of £100,000.

Installing a microphone and camera on top of a patient's television costs £250 with a normal telephone connection. Individual monitoring devices cost a few hundred pounds each. There is a charge of £10 per patient per annum for the software licence.

Prof Stephenson thinks the sums add up and says Moon's remote monitors could be in use in Sussex within three years.

He says: "It will work as a more sophisticated version of NSH Direct."

While the constant vigilance of a computer is reassuring, the prospect of a virtual NHS is not. Will housebound patients be left with nothing but a television screen to talk to? Prof Stephenson said: "This isn't an alternative to face-to-face care. You can cut inappropriate visits and do more visits."

Medical bosses seem to agree.

After a year speaking to health chiefs across the country, Prof Stephenson has signed up a number of trusts to use Moon technology.

One Tony Blair was among the men and women who studied the equipment, says Prof Stephenson.

All British medical records are meant to be on an electronic database by 2003 and Moon is hoping to provide this service as a launchpad for the rest of its technology.

With its software already operating on the NHS intranet, it is optimistic about its prospects.

Moon is hoping to sell the system to health officials in France, South America and Australia. The company is talking to potential financial partners in Israel.

Prof Stephenson says none of the patients who have tested the home care system in the US have found it confusing or frightening but the firm will have to overcome public fears that talking to a television will replace talking to a doctor in a Britain, which is ever cautious of cost cutting in the NHS.

Worries about making a major capital expenditure on cutting-edge technology may be just as alarming for NHS trusts managers.

The potential of the technology is good but Moon still faces huge obstacles.

With a $73 million research and development bill to pay off, Prof Stephenson and his fellow Moon directors may yet need to invest in blood pressure monitors of their own.