A NORTH-EAST hospital trust is investing £800,000 in a scheme that will create 40 frontline nursing jobs and improve care for patients.

The scheme by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is believed to be the first in the region.

It involves investing £800,000 in recruitment and training in a bid to allow ward sisters and community nurse team leaders to spend more time managing and supervising staff rather than providing care.

The initiative, announced today ahead of International Nurses Day, has been backed by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which praised the trust as leading the region.

Diane Murphy, acting director of nursing at the County Durham and Darlington Trust, said: “Over the past decade, nursing has changed dramatically.

“We’re seeing greater numbers of patients who require more complex care.

“To meet the increased demand, our ward sisters and community nurse team leaders have been spending up to 80 per cent of their time delivering that care and just 20 per cent directing it. We need to turn those figures around.

“Investing in ward sisters and community nurse team leaders will enable them to concentrate on improving the high quality care we provide to our patients. They will achieve this by having more time to manage their staff and patients.”

Mrs Murphy, who has 31 year’s nursing experience, added: “This will have a significant impact on improving the care we are able to provide to our patients.”

The trust employs more than 80 ward sisters and community nurse team leaders who oversee 3,000 nurses.

Each sister is in charge of a team of about 30 full-time staff, caring for approximately 30 patients at any one time.

To support their changing roles, all ward sisters will receive additional training.

Greta Jones, a ward sister who manages a 24-strong team of orthopaedic nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital, said: “This will provide me with more quality time to spend with staff, support them and work with them.

This will give them the confidence to become capable and confident in their own right, improving patient care.”

Glenn Turp, RCN regional director, said the trust “is to be congratulated for setting the benchmark high and the RCN hopes that other trusts will now follow their lead”.

The trust runs hospitals in Darlington, Durham City and Bishop Auckland.