Gaynor Morgan, the award-winning inventor of Incostress, says complex obstacles to Government grants are making funding nearly impossible to achieve.

Incostress is designed to help control stress incontinence and offers a revolutionary alternative to incontinence pads.

Gaynor was a part of the Wales Innovators Network supported by the Welsh Assembly Government but said grant funding has now become such a complex cash boost to access it is stalling product development for innovators.

She said: "Now it is nearly impossible to get a grant. Even though the funding is there, the process is so complicated and layered with obstacles that it's not worth the bother.

Mrs Morgan's comments follow the decision of healthcare giant and high street chemist Boots to close its multi-million pound innovation centre at Swansea University.

The Boots Centre for Innovation (BCI) opened in 2007 and was designed to work with inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs to develop new product innovations.

Mrs Morgan was approached by the BCI after winning a gold medal at the British Inventor Show in 2006 for best medical device for her Incostress product.

She said: "Incostress is a Welsh product which was clinically trialled in Singleton, Swansea, and is in the process of going through Europe's largest trial of its kind in Cardiff University Hospital under the auspices of Dr Christine Shaw, clinical lead, and University of Glamorgan.

"It is set to save the NHS literally millions in surgery and is now sold in many countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, all over Europe and a few of the Eastern bloc countries."

Gaynor has produced a video telling how Incostress works.