New company for stroke treatment

All profits are fed back to the NHS

A hospital has set up its own private company to market and sell an invention that could help some stroke patients to walk again.

It is believed to be the first time an NHS hospital in England has started a commercial enterprise in this way.

Salisbury District Hospital hopes Odstock Medical will turn over £1m a year. Any profits it makes will be returned to the NHS.

Orders have already been placed from America, Australia and Europe.

The device is called a functional electronic stimulator and works by pasing an electrical impulse through an adfected patient's leg.

Each one costs £1,600, and they are now being sold by the company to other Primary Care Trusts and private companies.