HEALTH officials have struck a multi-million pound deal with hospitals to provide a host of operations during the coming year.

For the first time, Darlington Primary Care Trust, which is responsible for 70 per cent of local health spending, has formalised arrangements with acute trusts for the next 12 months.

Darlington residents will benefit from a service level agreement (SLA) with the town's Memorial Hospital, as well as Bishop Auckland General Hospital, worth almost £40m.

It will pay for hundreds of operations, including 528 cataract extractions, and 67 hip, 73 knee and 122 varicose vein procedures.

A separate SLA has been signed with South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, for a range of specialist procedures at Northallerton's Friarage Hospital.

These include radiotherapy treatments, renal services, plastic surgery cases, neurology and cardio-thoracic procedures, said to be worth an additional £7.2m.

Since April last year, the Darlington trust has commissioned and paid for almost three quarters of the health care provided to the town's population at a cost of about £100m a year.

Trust finance director Peter Chrisp said: "The SLAs are formal documents setting out exactly what we get for our money.

"They detail all the activity across all of the specialities.

"Previously, we haven't had such a formal arrangement and this fits in with the new way the National Health Service operates."

If the number of operations exceed the levels set in the SLA, the hospitals are paid extra to carry out the work.

However, if they fall short of the target then the trust is repaid the cost of the operations.

Mr Chrisp said: "This is part of the new NHS funding system.

"Eventually, everything has to be costed down to individual procedures and national tariffs for the work will be introduced."