HEALTH visitors are to forge closer links with patients by being based in local communities.

The nurses are being assigned to different areas in Bolton, rather than being attached to doctors' practices.

The decision by Bolton Primary Care Trust follows national guidance. The scheme has been piloted in the Johnson Fold area, where health chiefs say it has proved successful.

Bolton PCT's assistant director of nursing Helen Clarke said: "Health visitors working in a defined area can really get to know the schools and nurseries there, become familiar with the local facilities such as bus routes and shops, and understand the problems which local families face."

She added: "Currently, health visitors may travel some distance to see families registered with a particular GP, so the new pattern of work means better use of their time."

Family doctors will still have a named health visitor to act as their first point of contact with the service, and there will be a transitional period to allow for handovers and so that specific work with individual families can be concluded.