A hospital nurse is to star in an episode of Dragons' Den with her special socks that could save the lives of thousands.

Surrey Comet:

Neomi Bennett, 43, from Earlsfield, has invented a silk pouch to make it easier for people to pull on their embolism stockings that prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

The mum-of-three developed the idea, Neo-Slip, while she was studying to be a nurse at Kingston University in 2011.

Neo-Slip slides onto the foot before the tight-fitted embolism stockings, reducing friction and making it easier to get them on.

Last summer she braved the Dragons' Den panel and is due to appear in an episode next month, although she has to remain tight-lipped about how it went.

Miss Bennett, a St George’s Hospital nurse, said: "Through my general research as part of the course I came to realise 25,000 die each year from hospital acquired DVT.

"They are going into hospital having these operations, they are successful, but they develop a blood clot. When they go home they might be sitting about, watching TV and not walking around. It is worse with older people - a lot of them aren’t being warned and they just give up. A clot develops and they die of DVT.

Surrey Comet:

"In the UK the cost to the NHS is £640m to manage DVT. If it is caught in time it always leaves lasting damage to the veins.

"I invented Neo-Slip to help people get stockings on because I noticed a lot of elderly people couldn’t get their stockings on.

"I knew one elderly couple using stockings to tie their curtains. The man couldn’t get them on his wife. I felt really moved by that and felt I had to do something.

"It is really rewarding - I get lot of people contacting me saying they love the product."

She submitted her idea to the university, impressing her teachers, and her invention is now being made in Nottingham and being bought by NHS hospitals.

It is set to be available on prescription in two months.