A NEW app has been hailed as a "godsend" for patients with a severe breathing disorder.

Researchers at Oxford University and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have developed an app to help people with pulmonary hypertension manage their condition.

The app makes it easier patients to perform the six-minute walk test - where they have to walk as far as they can in the time limit so doctors can assess how well their medication is working, or if their condition is worsening.

Pulmonary hypertension is the increased pressure of arteries supplying the lungs and can cause breathlessness in patients, even when they are stationary.

Louise Limble was diagnosed with the condition four days after her son Liam was born at the John Radcliffe Hospital in April last year.

The 31-year-old mum-of-one from Wantage said when she first had to do the test it was a very difficult because she had to walk through hospital corridors full of medical staff and machinery.

She added: "It's a nightmare - you have people walking around with machines or nurses and visitors passing by."

But the new app has a step-counter and GPS system so patients can do the test indoors or outside, with the results being sent directly to the hospital.

The app has been trialled by 10 patients, including Mrs Limble, who said it was a godsend.

She added: "It's easy, it's lovely, it's an absolute godsend.

"Especially at the moment, you can get out in the sun and fresh air."

OUH consultant cardiologist Dr Elizabeth Orchard said the app was easy to use and tells patients when to start and stop, then sends the data to her team through a secure server so they can analyse it before appointments.

She added: "We wanted to make life easier for patients with pulmonary hypertension.

"The point of the app is we can have this information on patients before coming to clinics, we reduce health service resources and it will be more accurate because patients will walk the six minutes in the way they want to.

"Lots of patients get quite anxious when they come to do the tests because they know the results dictate what happens with their treatment. This will take the stress out of that."

At the moment the patients using the app are also being tested in hospital to make sure the data correlates, but Dr Orchard said the plan is to get patients using the app so the test no longer has to be done in hospital.

The app is being developed through the National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, a collaboration between Oxford University and OUH to fund medical research.

It is one of a number of research projects that will be showcased at the BRC's annual open day at Tingewick Hall at the JR from 12.45pm to 1.45pm on Thursday.

For information, visit oxfordbrc.nihr.ac.uk or call 01865 743341.