PATIENTS across Dorset are set to benefit from an award-winning invention to help keep patients hydrated.

Dorset Healthcare introduced new Hydrant bottle into Victoria Hospital in Wimborne last year and is now set to roll them out across the county’s community health services.

It is just one of three trusts in the country to be awarded an extra £62,500 from NHS England to extend the programme, with 2,500 patients who use the trust’s community-based wheelchair service and Wimborne’s Community Rehabilitation Service set to feel the benefits.

The device allows patients to drink, while community staff and carers monitor fluid intake to reduce the risk of dehydration.

The design features a bottle which clips onto beds, chairs and wheelchairs and a long drinking tube with a bite down valve to prevent leaks as well as a non-return system for hygiene and a clip to attach to clothing.

Specialist clinical services manager and professional head of occupational therapy at Dorset Healthcare Julie Kinsella said: “When we used the Hydrant in our community hospital, our ward nurses reported a significant drop in the number of patients with urinary infections.

“This funding allows us to look at ways of expanding the use of Hydrant.”

The NHS England estimates that for every £1 spent on the Hydrant it saves £16.