On the basis that a happy patient will probably get better sooner, nurse Chris Stanbury and her colleagues are on a mission to find out what their patients really want, as Barry Nelson discovers.

THE feeling that they're "too posh to wash" is a common prejudice about modern nurses which has gained ground in recent years. Some patients have been known to express the view that today's nurses are even "too clever to care" any more.

It is notions like these which Chris Stanbury, a deputy director of nursing from County Durham's mental health trust, is determined to discredit.

Chris is project manager for the impressively named County Durham and Tees Valley Nursing Collaborative, whose slogan is "Care above all". Bringing together three big acute hospital trusts, two mental health trusts and ten primary care trusts, the group aims to rediscover and re-emphasise the central role of caring in North-East nursing.

Launched a few weeks ago at a North-East conference addressed by nursing legend Christine Hancock, currently president of the International Council of Nurses but better known as a long-serving former general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, the collaborative has already attracted the attention of senior NHS officials.

If it is successful - and there is a steely glint in Chris's eye which suggests it will be - it could become a way to reinforce more traditional nursing values throughout the health service.

"There is a feeling among some members of the public that you can't be clever and care as well. We would strongly dispute this, but it is a view," says Chris, who works for the Priority Services NHS Trust at its Durham headquarters. "We need to listen to that perception but we also need to find out what the public appreciates.

"Care provided by a nurse means a lot to the patient. It is things like being washed, being served a cup of tea or hearing a few kind words that are particularly valued."

Jargon is never far away in the modern NHS, but Chris makes no apologies for setting out her stall. "What we need to do is re-focus on care as the general clinical concept guiding our work," she says.

Each trust has been asked to look at the nature of the care provided by nurses working within it. The aim is to identify ways of providing care that is particularly valued by patients and carers and sharing those lessons with colleagues.

"The public know what they appreciate but it's not in any nursing textbook. We are going to try to find out exactly what it is that they want," says Chris.

Members of the public might wonder at the focus on nurses when they are just part of the health care team. But Chris argues that the nurse is the bedrock of the NHS and has a unique role.

"It is because nurses are there. For 24 hours a day, seven days a week the nurse stays. Whether you are in the community or in a hospital, you will come into contact with nurses," says Chris.

In practical terms, the aim is to measure the performance of each of the trusts against values contained in 15 core statements. A sample of the standards includes:

l All nurses would always treat patients with respect.

l Nurses should always involve families and carers in the planning of care.

Patients, carers and other service users will also be encouraged to make a contribution and the process will be repeated until improvements are made across the board and standards are raised.

"There have been a lot of improvements in the way healthcare is delivered in recent years - we have cut waiting lists, we have reduced complaints and hit targets," says Chris. "But a lot of our targets have been quantitative, this is a response to the quality angle." One of the teams will be working within Lambton ward at the Pierremont psychiatric unit in Darlington, which is due to transfer into the new West Park hospital currently under construction. Staff have already discussed the project with carers from the charity Rethink, who have been asked to provide their input to the scheme.

"Our service users have said it is lovely having a brand new hospital but they need to know that everything will be lovely inside it as well," says Chris. "After all, if we have happy patients, they are going to get better more quickly."