A RADICAL shake-up of community nursing in the North- East could save the taxpayer £1m, it is claimed.

In one of the biggest transformations of district nursing services in the country, County Durham and Darlington Community Health Services is seeking to make the service more efficient and improve patient care.

The NHS organisation has been working with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to make the changes, which will begin in April and should be completed by September.

The RCN said it supported the changes and believed they would improve patient care, but is still working with the service about the concerns of some nurses about changes to their shift patterns.

The Northern Echo understands the changes, which could save up to £1m, are being made to streamline the service after the merger of the region’s primary care trusts several years ago.

The merger had left some nursing teams with disproportionate numbers of senior nurses.

The new service will mean: 􀁥 The existing three-team round-the-clock district nursing cover being replaced with a twilight service after 5.30pm and overnight workers covering 11.30pm to 8.30am; 􀁥 Core hours being extended to run from 8am to 8pm, instead of 8.30am to 5.30pm, with staff working shifts. Almost all planned work will take place within core hours, with unplanned emergency visits and a few planned calls outside those hours; 􀁥 Caseload management and leadership roles being separated and clarified; 􀁥 A reorganisation of teams to ensure they have the correct mix of skills, based on the idea that 70 per cent of calls need a registered nurse, 20 per cent can be handled by a health care assistant and ten per cent need a nursing sister.

Jane Haywood, who is leading the project,said: “We are squeezing 580,000 visits a year out of a service designed to deliver 540,000.

“At the end of the process, we will be able to employ more clinical staff than we do now on a reduced budget without any loss of quality or service. We already deliver high-quality care, but will be ready to compete with any provider on both quality and cost.”

RCN regional director Glenn Turp said: “We welcome overall the skill mix review.

“We believe it should help to deliver more efficient care.

“We are still working with the service regarding changes to shift patterns, which some of our members are concerned about.”

* The service is organising two-day conferences on the transformation on March 3 and September 15.

To attend, call Susan Hodgson on 01325-746226.