A GUIDE to local health services will be distributed across Sedgefield borough over the next week.

The leaflet, called Your Guide to Local Health Services, has been produced by Sedgefield Primary Care Trust (PCT).

People will also receive a copy of the Sedgefield PCT magazine Your Health Matters, which has articles about improvement to local health services and features on staff and their successes.

The guide includes a map of the borough to signpost local people to health services in their area, and useful telephone numbers and addresses, including GPs, dentists, NHS Direct, local hospitals and accident and emergency departments.

The leaflet tells people what the trust is doing for them, including what it spent money on last year, how it is going to improve services this year, how it is performing on local and national targets, and how people can get involved to help plan new services.

Alan Gray, chairman of Sedgefield trust, said: "The leaflet has been introduced as a means of strengthening local accountability, providing better information about NHS services in the area and putting patient views at the centre of service improvement.

"The guide demonstrates the primary care trust's commitment to patient and public involvement and outlines the agenda for the next 12 months.

"It outlines a variety of ways that people can contribute to, or find out more about, the work of the PCT. We hope that people find it a useful guide."

Your Guide to Local Health Services is available in other languages, large print, audio tape and Braille on request from the trust offices on 0191-301 3820.