MORE than 140 jobs could be cut at North Lincolnshire's Primary Care Trust if a radical shake up of the NHS goes ahead.

But Allison Cooke, the chief executive of NHS North Lincolnshire, is confident the biggest-ever shake-up of public healthcare would breathe new life into the service – even though she may lose her job in the process.

Mrs Cooke (pictured) spoke out after Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced plans to save cash by scrapping Strategic Health Authorities (SHA) and Primary Care Trusts (PCT) and giving control to GPs.

North Lincolnshire's PCT, which commissions healthcare services for GP surgeries, employs 473 people. It is believed 140 jobs would be at risk, including 100 full-time posts.

If the axe falls, Mrs Cooke said: "Some of the staff will go to the local authority and some will be needed to support the GPs' organisation."

She added: "I don't know what's happening to my job. As PCTs are being scrapped there can be no chief executive of the PCT.

"But we can't lose sight of the responsibilities we have now."

"The management saving we have to make is 50 per cent and part of that saving we have already assumed.

"We will need to look at voluntary redundancies as part of the cost savings."

She said the jobs at risk are all linked to commissioning services, which include buying medication and other medical supplies for the PCT.

Mrs Cooke, however, warned that doctors will need support with everyday management tasks and axing all bureaucracy would harm their ability to care for patients.

"There's staff we could stop doing administration if we could stop feeding unnecessary information up to the Department of Health," said Mrs Cooke.

"We should get rid of the unnecessary bureaucracy, but there's a lot we need day to day."

But Mrs Cooke was confident doctors could manage budgets well as long as they were properly trained and supported by a dedicated team of specialists.

She said the move should see better care for patients, as doctors who know their patients' situations can decide where money is spent, she said.

And, Mrs Cooke added, the planned West Street 'super surgery' would not be affected by the shake-up.