NEW-STYLE walk-in health centres are to be opened throughout the North-East as part of a shake-up of NHS services.

Three centres, designed to make it easier for people to see a doctor or nurse, will open in Darlington, Sunderland and Gateshead.

Visitors do not need to register, meaning patients will be able to get medical attention nearer their workplace or when they are away from their doctor's surgery.

The centres are in addition to walk-in surgeries that are operating in Newcastle and York.

Health bosses in Sunderland said the centre is intended to be one of several on Wearside.

The sites, funded from a £40m package that the Government unveiled in July, should be open within two years.

Health Minister John Hutton said it was part of the Government's commitment to allow commuters to access primary care services near where they worked.

In Darlington, the King Street walk-in centre will be on the ground floor of the new Darlington Primary Care Trust headquarters when the health authority moves from its current office in Valley Road.

Patients needing attention will be seen by a GP or a nurse according to their needs.

Sunderland Primary Care Trust has not decided where the first centre will be.

A spokeswoman for Gateshead Primary Care Trust said: "We are really pleased to have this opportunity.

"It will give us additional capacity to meet patient needs more flexibly. We are currently looking at a number of sites."

It is hoped the walk-in centres, 42 of which are already open across England, will ease pressure on already-stretched conventional GP practices.

The centres are likely to include facilities for minor surgical procedures to take place, such as treatment for skin conditions and vasectomies.

The NHS Plan, published in 2000, promised that by December this year, all patients should be seen by a GP within two working days, or a primary care professional within a day.