THE region's most powerful NHS boss has denied that the North-East health service is in crisis.

David Flory, acting chief executive of the North-East NHS, said he wanted to reassure patients after news leaked out of mass job losses at a number of the region's hospitals.

Mr Flory was reacting after County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed it was looking to shed up to 700 jobs over three years.

Thursday's announcement, which sent shockwaves through the 6,000-strong workforce, was followed by news of another 74 jobs going at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, including 21 specialist nurses.

Ninety jobs have already gone at the trust, along with 237 posts at South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mr Flory said that, far from seeing cutbacks in NHS services, the region was seeing "substantial investment" to improve patient care.

Regional health officials have also revealed that, despite multi-million pound overspends at a few North-East trusts, the overall picture for the region is more positive, with a break-even position forecast for the region's NHS as a whole. However, Mr Flory acknowledged there was "a big drive across the NHS" to ensure services were more accessible and convenient for patients.

He said: "This will result in more services being provided in people's homes, particularly for those with chronic, long-term conditions, or in local health centres."

The County Durham and Darlington trust, which runs Darlington Memorial Hospital, Bishop Auckland General Hospital, the University Hospital of North Durham and Shotley Bridge Hospital, near Consett, is not one of the North trusts expecting to end the financial year in deficit.

Yesterday, a spokesman repeated assurances that the trust would try to avoid compulsory redundancies. Officials said the restructuring was needed because of changes in the NHS.

In a separate development, the trust confirmed it was considering moving services at the 34-bed Durham Community Hospital to the adjacent University Hospital of North Durham. Any decision to close the small unit would be taken by the trust board.

Meanwhile, former Health Secretary Frank Dobson has supported calls for the Government to suspend the next step in its NHS reforms because of fears it will worsen the service's financial problems, which have led to thousands of job cuts.