EXTRA cash to help family doctors to meet the increasing demands of patients has been announced.
In a boost for North Yorkshire £760,000 - more than 10 per cent of the total allocation of £7.2m - is to be invested in the area.
Other areas to emerge with substantial increases include County Durham (£735,000) and Teesside (£651,000). Tyneside received £1.2m.
The cash, which is being allocated directly to the GP-led primary care groups, is the first in a series of measures to improve patient access to GPs, nurses and other health professionals and to extend the range of treatments and services they can provide on the spot.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn said: "I see no reason why patients should have to be referred to and from hospital for services which could be provided in their local GP surgery."
Jim Easton, director of strategic and service development in the Northern and Yorkshire NHS region said: "Patients want to be able to see a GP or a nurse at their local surgery at a time which is convenient to them.
"Making this easier is at the heart of the vital modernisation process the NHS needs to go through so we can provide services for the twenty-first century."
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