EXTRA nurses are to be employed at Wyre Forest's out-of-hours GP centre as it shares in a £500,000 county investment package.

The district's primary care centre will have three nurses in the peak 6pm to 10pm slot - up from one at present - mainly to deal with patients by phone.

The centre, based at Kidderminster Hospital, is expected to face increased pressure when medical cover based at the Bromsgrove centre ends after 11pm.

The changes are part of a service revamp to deal with the proposed new GP contract, which is likely to allow them to opt out of providing out-of-hours care.

Malvern will also close at 11pm and Worcestershire's remaining four centres at Kidderminster, Worcester, Redditch and Evesham will be linked electronically so patients can be seen at the nearest or least busy centre.

Tony De Cothi, the Kidderminster centre's medical director, welcomed the new resources.

"It makes the centre more robust - we've got a bigger pool of nurses and we're building links with other centres," he said.

"It's a big step forward for the primary care centre."

Another change means instead of two GPs working all evening and then through the night, a fresh GP will work on his own from 11pm until 8am.

Cars and first-aid trained drivers provided by the ambulance service will also be used to improve the home visiting service.

It is hoped the changes will be in place by September.

A Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust spokesman added patients should phone the primary care centre first on 01562 755022 rather than just turning up to avoid causing problems.