A LIFE-SAVING scheme that uses a message in a bottle is being extended in Darlington thanks to the help of the town's doctors.
More than 10,000 plastic pill bottles have already been made available.
The white bottles, marked with a green cross, contain a sheet of paper on which residents can place medical information including details of their doctor, next of kin, prescribed medicines and medical conditions.
These are left in the fridge and green stickers placed in the house show the resident is part of the scheme.
In the event of an emergency, health and rescue services know exactly where to find the relevant information.
Now Darlington Primary Care Trust is expanding the scheme by enlisting the town's 11 GP surgeries.
The trust's patient advice and liaison service manager, Clare Hinton, is ensuring practice staff know all about the scheme and have the bottles at hand for patients.
She said: "It is a fantastic idea, so simple yet so effective. It really is a wonderful lifeline, especially for those people who live alone."
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