CROISSANTS might not be served up for breakfast but Darent Valley Hopital staff are set to take on some of the ways their French counterparts carry out their jobs across the Channel.

A two-year programme will see Darent Valley and Lille Hospital staff share and discuss ideas to improve their hospitals.

Organised by Greenwich University, 600 staff from different departments are expected to take part in an exchange to see how the two hospitals work and develop ideas.

Darent Valley’s senior nurse for education and practice, Ann Cuthill, said: “We will be looking at the differences in what they do, sharing ideas and concepts and taking things forward on both sides.” The French launched the project three weeks ago.

Although Darent Valley will not officially launch the project until June 20, some of its staff have already paid visits to the French hospital.

Organiser of the £1m project, Myriam Brunswic of Greenwich University’s school of health and social care, said it would provide an opportunity for both hospitals to learn from each other.

Lille staff would see how an NHS hospital operates with financial restrictions, while Darent Valley staff would see how French hospitals kept waiting lists down.

Students and education teams would take part, along with staff from a broad range of departments at Darent Valley Hospital.

Mrs Cuthill said: “Lille staff are moving to a new hospital so, having gone through that, we have lots of experience to share.

“With regards to finance and cutbacks, some of our concepts have been extremely positive and the French teams have already shown an interest in some of our work in this area.” The project was part-funded by the European Union.