Essex is to get hundreds more nurses and healthcare staff
Health bosses in the county have just approved a plan to invest heavily in front-line staff in a bid to slash waiting times.
The Essex Local Delivery Plan maps out how an extra £399 million will be invested in local services over the next three years.
It allows for an extra 242 nurses, 68 hospital and community consultants, 162 scientific and therapy advisers and 356 health care assistants during 2003/04.
The funding for the plan, which sets out spending and priorities for 13 primary care trusts, represents an average increase of more than nine per cent a year.
A spokesman said the increased funding will allow primary care trusts to fund new facilities in hosptials and GP clinics and enable GPs to prescribe more life-saving drugs and pay for more operations.
During the next three years it is planned in Essex to provide:
More than 13,460 extra elective operations an increase of 7.8 per cent
More than 2,000 extra outpatient consultations in primary care
Terry Hanafin, the chief executive of Essex Strategic Health Authority said the importance of local delivery plans could not be underestimated.
"Our Essex Plan demonstrates how we intend to meet the key targets set out in the Government's ten year NHS plan.
"The extra NHS work will enable Essex to reduce waiting times so that by December, 2005, no-one will wait more than six months for an operation or more than 13 weeks for an outpatient appointment."
Published Thursday, May 29, 2003
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