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

Three new centres, designed to make it easier for people to see a doctor or nurse, will open in Darlington, Sunderland and Gateshead. Visitors to the new style centres do not need to register, meaning patients will be able to get medical attention nearer to their workplace or when they are away from their local doctor's surgery.

The three new centres are in addition to walk-in surgeries which are already up and running in Newcastle and York.

Health bosses in Sunderland say that the new centre is intended to be "just one of many" on Wearside.

The new North-East sites, funded from a £40m investment package which 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 to where they work.

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

Patients needing attention will enter a reception area and be seen by either a GP or a nurse according to their needs.

Sunderland Primary Care Trust has not decided where the first walk-in centre will be located but a spokeswoman said the intention was to open a number of the new style open access surgeries.

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 that walk-in centres - 42 of which are already open across England - will get more patients through the doors, rather than depending on already-stretched conventional GP practices.

The new centres are likely to include facilities for minor surgical procedures, 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. .