AN extra £3.5 million is to be pumped into new-look health services in Herefordshire.

The money will improve the way county people are treated from the first visit to a GP, through their treatment and after-care.

The project is described as a major step forward and the largest programme of change ever in the county.

Health managers say the future is not just about more beds and more staff - it is how patients go through the whole system efficiently and how their best interests are protected.

In a joint statement this week, Herefordshire Primary Care Trust and Hereford Hospitals Trust say much success depends on how staff accept change. They are confident they will and change can be introduced across the whole spectrum of health care in Herefordshire.

Five areas

Preparatory work has been done, based on previous consultations and by studying new ways of working that have succeeded elsewhere. The focus is on five areas - orthopaedics, cardiology, respiratory and emergency medicines and diabetes.

Money has been allocated to each and each has a task force charged to provide ways of better delivery, reporting back within months.

The changes are not just about solving a beds problem at the County Hospital.

The trusts say it has already been established many people are admitted to, and kept in hospital, unnecessarily. With better systems and swifter diagnosis much could be eliminated, to the patient's benefit, and bed shortage automatically improved.

While many plans will be revealed in coming weeks, it is known one could involve appointing a consultant emergency physician for patients admitted to hospital by GPs.

Diagnostics is to play a major role with more state-of-the-art equipment to produce results in hours rather than days. And in orthopaedics, 'classes' are likely to keep patients up-to-date before major hip replacements.

The trusts and clinicians are said to be in complete agreement that the way to a better future and to meeting Government targets is to look at health services as a whole, and not in bits.

Jeremy Millar, chief executive of Hereford Hospitals Trust, said the extra £3.5 million will help drive change and ensure better treatment for more.

Peter Harper, medical director at the trust, said senior doctors and nurses had worked hard over the last six months on proposals to meet pressures on primary and secondary care. He believed they would result in local health services taking a major step forward.

Paul Bates, chief executive of Herefordshire Primary Care Trust, which has made the money available out of its nine per cent budget increase, said it was an ambitious programme of redesign and investment.

It was intended to improve patient care and experience before they reach hospital, while there and after their discharge.

He told The Hereford Times there was a great mood of enthusiasm throughout the service and the changes were in the 'big league'.

A report on the proposals was presented to Herefordshire Community Health Council, the public's watchdog body, on Tuesday. It was the council's last formal meeting before being disbanded.

Mr Bates said the council had worked closely with the health authority and had acted as a critical friend of the people of Herefordshire.