PLANS to deliver better care to Darlington residents have been revealed in a joint council and NHS initiative.

Darlington Borough Council and the Darlington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have submitted proposals to the Better Care Fund for a number of projects to improve the way health and social care is delivered in the town by pooling budgets and creating teams of staff with expertise in different areas.

Staff from GP surgeries, Darlington Memorial Hospital, community and mental health, social workers and voluntary workers will work jointly with patients to ensure they get the right help as they need it, with the aim of speeding up treatment and reducing the number of unnecessary hospital visits.

A new Hospital at Home scheme has also been devised to help patients leave hospital as soon as possible, while another project will increase the use of voluntary organisations to support people in the community.

The council and CCG have also agreed to improve support for people living in residential homes in Darlington and also to provide seven days a week access to diagnostic specialists in A&E.

Council leader Bill Dixon said: “People want access to health and care services at the weekend, people don’t want to go into hospital if they don’t need to and they don’t want to have to keep repeating their story to different professionals."

Andrea Jones, chairman of the Darlington CCG, said: “We are working together to plan long lasting improvements. Our aim is to change NHS services to make them work better for the people of Darlington.”

Once approved, the plans will be implemented over the next two years.