WORCESTER has been chosen to trial a pioneering new scheme that could improve life for Parkinson's disease sufferers all over the United Kingdom.

The city branch is to distribute 60 specially-adapted pagers tomorrow for a two-month trial.

They have been programmed to remind sufferers when to take their medication, up to eight times per day in some cases.

If successful, the pagers would be available to 70,000 'Parkinson's people' throughout the UK and beyond.

It could mean the difference between people functioning normally and "switching off" if they forget to take their medicine.

The pilot scheme was the brainwave of branch chairman Arthur Burgess, who was inspired by intercoms warning parents when sleeping babies go quiet.

He discovered one firm had conducted similar trials before the machines went on the market and approached bosses in February with his proposals.

The pager works with a pre-programming system that reminds people when their medication is due and can even carry the name of the drug and dosage.

If and when their medication changes, users can call a special number to have their pagers reprogrammed.

The whole package is expected to cost around £10 per month, and around 40p per day for reminders.

"We hope that people will realise that 40 pence per day is not too much to pay for peace of mind," said Mr Burgess.

He said he knew of many cases of sufferers who often had to remember several types of drug or change them as part of their treatment.

"It will make the difference between being 'switched on' and active, for want of a better phrase or 'switched off'," he added.

The project would ultimately benefit sufferers of other conditions such as osteoporosis.

Mr Burgess said users might benefit from a VAT break on the price of the pagers, which would be rented out and simply swapped when they needed to be reprogrammed.

Paul Gibbon, managing director, of Meditel Communication Systems, which has been developing the project, praised Mr Burgess' idea.

"I think it will give people with Parkinson's Disease far more freedom and allow them to do things like go shopping, safe in the knowledge that they will be reminded to take medication," he said.

"It's a totally new scheme. It's a first for us."

The pagers will be launched on a first come, first served basis, at a meeting at Unity House, Stanley Road, beginning at 7pm.