Scientists claim to have found a way to stop hospitals losing or mixing up patients' tissue samples, a problem that can have fatal consequences.

North Middlesex Hospital in London will next month become the first hospital in Britain to trial Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), a tracking system in which tiny tags respond with a unique identity when scanned, much like a barcode.

Geoffrey Benge, head of service for pathology at the hospital, said: 'If you're meant to have three biopsies and there are only two, the computer will tell you there's one missing.'

3M, the American technology company behind the system, said that a trial at the Mayo Clinic in the US had improved efficiency by between 10 and 20 per cent. The company believes that 'in 10 years everything of value that can be moved will be tracked everywhere'.