EXTRA investment is going into family health services in Durham and Chester-le-Street as doctors enter new working arrangements.

The contracts give GPs greater control over their workload, which is seen as an important factor in recruiting more doctors into general practice.

GPs will be rewarded for improving the quality of care they provide, not just the number of patients they treat.

Special attention will be given to tackling heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.

Local practices will have a greater flexibility to maintain and expand the range of services they wish to provide and these will reflect the needs of local communities.

Andrew Young, chief executive of Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust (PCT), said: "We are entering a new era for family doctors and the team supporting them with a further investment in practices of over £600,000 this year.

"We hope the new quality orientated contract will make general practice a more popular place to work once more."

The PCT has invested in new services in areas such as alcohol misuse, mental health and learning disabilities and will be developing minor ailment schemes.

Patients will be able to go to community pharmacies to get treatment for hay fever and head lice.

Over time there will be a gradual development of more high quality services in a primary care setting closer to patients' homes, meaning they will not experience undue delays. This may be in areas such as dermatology and local anaesthetic vasectomies.

Surgeries will also make more effective use of the skills of other trained professionals such as nurses, health care assistants and therapists.

They can carry out some of the tasks previously done by GPs, freeing the doctors to see patients only they can help.

Patients will see little immediate change but those with long-term conditions including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma should see improvements in the treatment of their condition.

Registering with a practice will not change and patients will be informed of any changes if they are introduced. New arrangements for the provision of out-of-hours care will be announced later in the year.