NEW-style assistant practitioners are set to take on extra responsibilities, as hospital bosses try to reduce the number of hours worked by doctors.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has appointed 14 assistant practitioners, a new post created to absorb some of the responsibilities previously carried out by nurses.

New European legislation has led to the number of hours doctors can work a week being limited to 58 hours, falling to 48 hours a week by 2009.

The Trust has already secured £2.2million to employ 74 new doctors to help cover the expected gap in cover.

Nurses are also taking on extra responsibilities from doctors, and some duties previously carried out by nurses will be passed to the new assistant practitioners.

Hospital bosses today said it should lead to a better service to patients, because they would not have to be seen by so many different people for routine procedures. Assistant practitioners in the fracture clinic of Blackburn Royal Infirmary will be allowed to take plasters off and assess the wounds underneath, something only nurses were allowed to do in the past.

At Burnley General Hospital, the assistant practitioners will be allowed to record scan results, assess wounds and take blood, all tasks traditionally undertaken by qualified staff.

And at Pendle Community Hospital, a variety of occupational therapy, physiotherapy and nursing duties will be undertaken by the new staff, all of who are already employed within the Trust in other roles.

Jill Pilkington, head of learning and development, said: "This is a very exciting project which is all about improving the services we provide for patients.

"The new assistant practitioner post will help us to ensure that we have the correct balance of skills in the workforce to give the best quality of care.

"The new grade will also help use recruit and retain staff because of improved career prospects."