PATIENTS registered with a Chester-le-Street GP practice are to announce their arrival for appointments by using their fingerprints.

Bridge End Surgery has been using a touch screen arrival system since it was installed last month, and so far it has been a big success.

It enables patients, when they arrive for an appointment, to use the touch screen to announce their arrival.

For the next fortnight, patients will be given the option of using only their fingerprint to say they are at the surgery.

Peter Brown, practice manager, said: "Since the system was introduced, most patients have already been using the system."

The fingerprint is taken using a digital machine, that then links to the records on the computer in the practice, and stores a digital representation of the prints in the system.

Bridge End surgery is also leading the way by being the first practice in the area to develop a patient self-test room.

Patients are free to call in anytime to weigh themselves, measure their height, or to take their own blood pressure.

Theresa Huddart, deputy director of primary care from Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust (PCT), said: "The PCT welcomes this initiative from Bridge End Surgery who are prepared to test the latest innovative technology to improve their services for the benefit of patients and staff."