THE inventors of a device for mothers to monitor the health of their unborn baby has won a major competition.

FoetoH is the brainchild of Oxford University scientists Dr Michelle Fernandes, Dr Alex Flint and Dr Ricardo Pachon and allows an expectant mother to attach a monitor which transmits information on the baby’s health to a laptop or smartphone.

The device has now taken the top prize in the Tata Idea Idol competition, run by the Oxford University Entrepreneurs Society at the Said Business School.

Dr Fernandes said: “Having worked as a doctor on maternity wards, one of the aspects I noticed was that the unborn baby is only monitored between three and five times during the course of the pregnancy.

“Anything could happen which may not be picked up but with early detection, lives could be saved.”

He added that the information from the monitor would be easy to understand, giving a reading similar to a traffic light.

The developers hope the device will cost about £80 when it goes on sale.

It is also hoped to market the device in the developing world, where more than 90 per cent of still births occur and monitoring by doctors is much less frequent.

The FoetoH team won £7,000, which will be used to develop a prototype, draw up a business plan and register a patent application.

They beat five other finalists to claim the top prize, impressing judges including Gary Frank, chief executive of Witney cakes firm The Fabulous Bakin’ Boys and Melody Hossaini, of BBC TV’s The Apprentice.